From The End Of Trust
by Amilie
Summary: Years ago Harry Potter died at the hands of friends, and as a traitor. But with the defeat of Voldemort the wizard world turned their eyes forward and rebuild itself. Now that future is threatened by past events, will it come back to haunt them? HP/DM, AU
1. Author's Notes

Author Notes

For

From The End Of Trust

By Amilie

Amilie_Fanfic@yahoo.com

**Disclaimer**: I in no way have rights to Harry Potter or any of the characters, they are all property of the great J.K. Rowling. 

**Things To Know**: 

******************* Indicates the beginning and ending of a flashback.

"_Anything written in Italics"_ represents mindspeach.

**Story Rating**: **R**

**Categories**: AU, Angst, Drama

**Pairings**: HP/DM

**Reviews**: Well of course I would like reviews. And I enjoy helpful criticism but no flames.

**Updates**: Whenever I manage to write. I not only have a job but I also have thirteen (13) 

horses to take care of and twenty-six (26) acres to keep clean.

**Summary**: Seven years long years have past since the traitorous Harry Potter stood against Albus Dumbledore and died on the wrong side of the war. But with the lose of presumed greatness came freedom from Voldemort. And now the wizarding world has rebuilt itself with strength and resolve. But when their future is at risk by their own designs who will save them?

Now on with the story……


	2. Getting The Facts Straight

From The End Of Trust

By Amilie

Chapter One

****

Getting The Facts Straight

Excerpts

"_The Fall of Voldemort_" Percy Weasley

Published in association with Flourish and Blotts Books (2001)

Throughout the duration of time that passed during the writing and publishing of "_The Fall of Voldemort_" many people attempted to stop me from continuing. Not because they believed it ill written, rather that they believed it might somehow corrupt another wizard into following Voldemort's path of destruction. 

Not only was that a dangerous idea then but it is even more so now. A new generation will soon be sent out into the world, never personally knowing the effects and aftermath of true evil. 

We must always remember what we have sacrificed to be where we are now. Before we can learn to not repeat our mistakes we must first learn to understand them.  
Special thanks to Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Draco Malfoy for their first hand accounts of the war.

  
Dedicated to all the innocent people lost during the war, in particular my brothers Charlie, Fred, and George.  
(Author's Note - Pg 4 - _"The Fall of Voldemort"_)

"… and so it was discovered that the traitor was none other than Harry Potter."  
(Chap. 26 _Discoveries_ - Pg 201 - _"The Fall of Voldemort"_)

"When Potter refused to stand down and be taken into custody, Albus Dubledore had no other options. With the help of Ronald Weasley, Dumbledore was forced to perform the _Avada Kedavra_ curse upon Potter."  
(Chap. 27 _Final Siege_ - Pg 257 - _"The Fall of Voldemort"_)

"No eye witnesses are thought to have survived the final confrontation between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Therefore we can not be certain of the details."  
(Chap. 28 _Aftermath_ - pg 289 - _"The Fall of Voldemort"_)

"Whether resulting from magical residue or other means, has yet to be discovered. When the flames dimmed enough to approach, it was found that all evidence of the Final Battle was burned away.

Among the bodies unable to be recovered were Albus Dumbledore, Voldemort, Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall and Lucius Malfoy."  
(Chap. 28 _Aftermath_ - pg 293 - _"The Fall of Voldemort"_)

"Though Voldemort lay dead and defeated, other obstacles still stood in the way of full recovery. Foremost being the discovery that many levels of the Ministry had been infiltrated by undercover Death-Eaters. 

With so many of the Aurors dead in war, the task of restoring the Ministry fell at the feet of Arthur Weasley and Severus Snape. After many long tiring months the task was complete, unfortunately the process had torn the Ministry apart, it was no longer able to function.

After numerous meeting between leaders from all around the wizarding world, it was decided a new manner of government would be formed. The new Council Of Magic would be located in London, leaders from each country would sit on the Council. Representatives would also be elected by the people. No longer would countries be run separately, instead the Council would act as the central government.

While there would be a Head of The Council, the person would not be able to pass laws or punishment solely on their own opinion. The Head instead would act as enforcer, keeping outside influences from affecting decisions.

(Chap. 29 _A New Foundation_ - 307 - _"The Fall Of Voldemort"_)

--------------------

Oct. 2001  
To: Arthur Weasley, Head Council of Magic  
From: Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts

Dear Arthur,  
The problem is progressing. Children of all ages are still arriving, each with the same hand written note. Many of these children are found to be orphans or runways. I cannot in good conscience turn them away. Besides that though, it seems that all of the children have a very strong innate gift for wizardry.  
When questioned all they say is that a tall dark haired man named Tal sought them out and tested them. I have yet to find out exactly what the _test_ was and they don't seem completely understand what happened themselves. I feel that they're being sent to us was a sign of failure for whatever the man was searching for in them.   
These are very strong children, if they weren't what he was looking for I almost shudder to think of whatever power he is trying to find. We _cannot_ afford to have any enemies, we are just not prepared at this time.  
Therefore I feel it to be in the best interest of the Council to investigate this matter further. I've enclosed statements from all the children that concern the matter.  
  
Sincerely,  
Hermione Granger  
Headmistress of Hogwarts

Nov. 2001  
To: Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts  
From: Arthur Weasly, Head Council of Magic

Ms. Granger,

After reviewing your statement the Council has reached an agreement to look into the matter.  
The Council has commissioned a team of Aurors, headed by Ron, to investigate the matter. 

It also seems that we had some information on Tal already in file, that wasn't even connected to this matter, resulting from some sensitive inquiries that were made in the United States on his part. 

The Aurors will be sent out in the next week after being thoroughly briefed on the matter.

I'll send you updates as they arrive.  
If any more problems should arise please contact me immediately.  
  
Arthur Weasley  
Head Council of Magic

Jan. 2002  
To: Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts  
From: Arthur Weasly, Head Council of Magic

The Aurors arrived back at Diagon Alley yesterday. No surprise, they managed to track Tal to the western coast of America.

Auror reports show that while Tal visited several wizard communities, no hard evidence could be found as to his identity or objectives. Another matter that bears thinking on is the fact that not one person can clearly remember exactly what the man looked like or what he was asking. Memory charms were clearly used in large quantities, five large towns were interviewed and all seemed to be affected by memory loss. That in itself points towards considerable power on his part.

It was decided to send while the team researches leads that led to this area, they will also be over there to see the children personally. Hopefully they will be able to reveal previously hidden details from their memories.  
  
Arthur Weasley  
Head Council of Magic

Nov 2003  
To: Arthur Weasley, Head Council of Magic  
From: Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts

Arthur,  
We came off better this year, we only received eleven of Tal's children. This year they actually came equipped with all their school supplies, robes, wand etc. What is worrisome though, they seem to have a small amount of extra curriculum training, only enough that they will be ahead of their classmates when the term begins.

The first children we received in 2001 are now in their second year and progressing nicely. While they are doing well I am having problems with certain others students, which I think you need to know about. 

From what the staff and I understand there is a group of them anywhere from twenty to thirty, all muggle or half muggle. When we went and looked on the Hogwarts' list we found that they were not even originally meant to come here, their names just suddenly appeared all in the last seven years, it coincides to much with Voldemort's defeat for my taste. These are unusual children, they aren't even particularly goods students, but at times when they shouldn't be able to they can cast overly difficult spells.

I personally feel that these children's gifts have something to do with the search our mystery man is on.  
I'm sending in an official request to the Council for a research team to come and investigate the matter.  
  
Hermione Granger

Jan 2004

Hermione,  
I completely concur with Ron's assessment of the children at Hogwarts, the fact that they can work wandless magic with no training in the form and also seem to be unaffected by the power depletion all leads to worrisome thoughts. The researchers believe that the children are the result of alteration within the magic, possibly resulting from the power drains created during the war. 

For safety's sake I recommend teaching these children separately, hopefully we can keep the matter out of public eyes for the time being. The Council reactions are bad as it is, I don't even care to imagine how uninformed people would react.  
We believe you are correct in your assessment that the matter of Tal is related in part to the discovery of this new…magic. 

On a better note we are finding more detailed information about Tal, it would seem he has over the years started to form a group of sorts. We can't be sure of anything else and as of this letter we have been unable to locate or contact them.  


Arthur

April 2004  
  
Be Alert, the papers somehow received information about our "_special students"_. As thought the public is extremely worried. The papers aren't helping the matter, articles are coming out suggesting that the children are a result of Voldemort.   
The Council is already receiving petitions from _concerned_ parents to have the "_special students_" removed from Hogwarts. The vote was a close one. I'm sorry you couldn't be there to speak on the matter, the children managed to stay at Hogwarts by only three votes. Some of the turmoil within the Council is a result of research that started years ago. And as every other strange occurrence seems to be linked to Tal I can't help but to wonder if this is also. 

The research revealed that over the past thirty years the birth rate of witches and wizards has slowly been in decline, more so in the past ten years. The ratio of magiced children to squibs children is now practically even. Fortunately the reports were brought to the Council before being received by the public. Measures have been taken to insure that for the time being only the Council is aware of the problem.   
Be careful.  
  
Arthur

Jan 2005

  
I don't know what to do! There has been another incident, one of the younger girls was practicing pronunciations and nearly killed Draco! The girl didn't have a wand and wasn't even trying to cast a spell!

If Tal does have a group of children like this we must find out. Children with this much power and potential in the wrong hands….it would be the end of us. On the other hand though I cant help but wonder how he trains them. To say the least we need to be in contact with him.  
  
Hermione

March 2005

  
There has been more upheaval, as you well know the council is still fighting within itself.  
I'm truly sorry that parents are taking their children from Hogwarts. We will figure out a way to end this…somehow.  
We are closer to finding Tal, I've come to think that he we will only be able to resolve the situation after we understand how he has influenced it.  
  
Arthur

Oct 2005  
To: Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts  
From: Arthur Weasly, Head Council of Magic

Headmistress of Hogwarts,  
The Council was able to send summons to Tal. He has agreed to meet with us in one weeks time.  
  
Arthur Weasly,  
Head Council of Magic


	3. Old Allies, New Enemies

Chapter Two

****

Old Allies, New Enemies

What the hell was going on? Was the world ending? 

It must be, he'd sworn he wouldn't come back here otherwise. Fate seemed to feel differently though, because here he was preparing to get screwed over…again, but before that happened he was going to let them sweat for awhile.

From his vantage point he could see the Council members shifting irritably in their seats. He'd been there for a good ten minutes already, just to let them think about things. Besides giving him the upper hand when he decided to show himself, it also taught the Council a valuable lesson; Talon Wittman was not theirs to control. The sooner that was understood the better everything would go.

And as he stood in the shadows he couldn't help but to think how strange it was going to be to once again stand in the very room where, seven years earlier, he had been found guilty of crimes as a Death-Eater. This time would be different though, he was no longer the same person. Which was lucky for them; maybe this time he would actually do the right thing.

--------------------

Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts, to put it simply was pissed. The "mystery man" was already fifteen minutes late; he had agreed to come…he should at least be polite enough to arrive on time! 

Besides that the Council members were already beginning their typical bickering, and she truly didn't want to deal with them. She didn't come here to feel like a teacher. She came because her children where in trouble; her world was falling apart, and for the second time in her life she had no idea what she was going to do about it.

"Look!" 

Hermione was broken out of her reverie by the obnoxious shriek, it sounded so much like the others she couldn't be sure who it was. It had gotten everyone else's attention to though and the room was already in a mild state of chaos. 

As the noise level rose she looked around the room in hopes of finding Arthur or Ron, but unfortunately it seemed they hadn't yet arrived. "Looks like I have to be the adult in the situation, again," she thought to herself unhappily. As a teenager she had been fine speaking in public, had even enjoyed it, but in the past few years she had become sick and nervous whenever she had to speak in front of a large group. But this time she had to, and that was the only thing that helped her courage. 

"Well, you idiots before _anyone _can see you need to get yourself under control and sit back down!," she snapped out in a loud commanding voice; which was fairly intimidating after having six years as Headmistress of Hogwarts to perfect it. And thank all that was good, nobody seemed to have noticed how she shook as she spoke because they were actually sitting back down and becoming quiet again. 

She on the other hand continued standing, noting that Arthur and Ron had arrived sometime while she had been reprimanding the Council members. As the final members sat down she was finally able to see what had so arrested everyone's attention, and when see did the sight left her slightly stunned. She thought it was understandable, the man who stood in the center of the room had to be one of the most intimidating men she had ever seen. From the way he surveyed the room he also seemed to think he was a god of sorts.

He was dressed entirely in black, from leather pants to a well fitted shirt; outlining a slim muscular frame. His dark hair was long, nearly to his shoulders; most of it in braids or twists, intertwined with small beads. It was his face though that captured the imagination. His eyes were dark blue and even from where she stood she could feel the intensity they radiated, a scar went from the inside corner of his right eye and fanned out across his jaw. A earring shaped as a dagger hung from his left ear. She could see that his nose had been broken at some time in the past, in her opinion more than once. 

If he ever smiled he might actually have a _slightly_ pleasant face she mused to herself. Then he opened his mouth to speak and much to Hermione's chagrin ruined the whole pleasant idea.

--------------------

"Well, well, well, I finally get to set eyes on the all powerful Council of Magic," Tal mocked with a smirk twisting his lips. "Do you think you can show me some pretty tricks before my mommy comes to pick me up?

"If it wasn't against all I believe I'd pull my wand out right now and curse his mouth shut permanently, the arrogant bastard," Ron said in a dangerous soft voice to the two Aurors standing beside him. They merely nodded their heads in agreement, and if they really didn't feel the same, well they weren't be stupid enough to say so. Especially after the fight the red haired Auror had just had with his father, the Council Head. No they were quite happy keeping their jobs thank you very much.

When the war with Voldemort ended Ron Weasley had officially become an Auror, he had quickly risen through the ranks and was now in a class of his own. As a result in the past years he had become used to a certain respect that people chose to give him. In his mind he deserved it all, most of his life had been lived in the shadows unwilling and he wasn't going back anytime soon.

All the same though he still felt threatened by power and influence, so when he met anyone who might even try to usurp his position, in the wizard world, he put them in their place immediately. And as soon as Tal's comment had echoed through the room Ron knew the man was going to be an irritating unforeseen problem. But then he had known that from the moment he first saw him, disliking everything about him, from the incredibly stupid earring, to the snake tattoo on his arm and ending with his smart ass mouth.

Ron wasn't used to standing idly around while he or his peers were insulted so he didn't even think about it as he threatened, "Look you arrogant little prick, your already in enough trouble. Don't make me have to deal with you personally, you might get hurt." 

Ron's statement was voiced with complete confidence, he was one of the strongest wizards and could easily handle Tal, no matter how he might retaliate. It had been years since anyone had even tried to defy him, so when he heard Tal retaliate he was more than a little surprised and irritated.

"Prick? Little?," Tal asked evenly in a suggestive tone, "Umm no, I don't think so and as to ever dealing with you _personally_…only if hell freezes over." As he smirked at the people around the room Ron's anger began to burn, if got worse as Tal continued to speak, this time looking fully at Ron. "As to my ego it didn't take me five years to find you now did it? I've been watching you trying to hunt me down, it was almost impressive…for a beginner. If you ask nice enough I might be persuaded to teach you about _things_, none of them being little either."

-----------------

"God, he's really changed," Tal thought to himself unhappily. Over the years as Ron tried to track them, Tal had teams watching him constantly. They had brought reports and Tal had merely thought they were extravagated but now seeing Ron in person he saw what the others already had. 

Ron had become bitter, antagonistic and arrogant. Tal couldn't help but wonder what had caused the change and wished for a time from the past when things had been easier.

Before ever arriving in London Tal had firmly decided to try and stay on the best terms possible with the Council, but it seemed like it wasn't meant to be. Things were already going badly, Ron's words had been a blatant threat and if they had been alone he might have let it pass. But they hadn't been, so he had responded in like, implying things that he knew Ron had at one time detested and hopefully still did.

He knew as soon as he was done speaking that he had hit a nerve, he could see and feel the emotions emitting from Ron. And just for effect he smiled, a nice easy lascivious grin.

Next thing he knew was the wall colliding with his back and people yelling, brandishing wands about, like untrained children.

It was all he could do to not pull his wand out, defense mechanisms had been trained into him but he knew that for the moment he needed to just stay out of the picture. Nobody needed to know exactly what skills his training had given him. He looked around the room trying to note who stood by who and what they were saying but he found it almost impossible. He had forgotten how overwhelming it was to be in the same vicinity of untrained talent, everyone in the room was shouting verbally and some mentally. 

After a few agonizing moments he was able to reconstruct his mental shield mental and the voices dimmed in his head enough that he was able to stand and take stock of the room.

Ron was being held back by two other wizards, he assumed they were Aurors. Things better calm down though, the Aurors seemed to be having trouble holding Ron and he truly didn't want to hurt the redhead. Enough though the swelling on the back of his head almost changed his mind.

A commanding voice sliced through the confusion, "Everyone stop, RIGHT NOW!." 

When Tal looked to the source of the voice he was mildly surprised that it belonged to Arthur Weasley. The man had always been quiet spoken and kind, he apparently now wasn't taking grief from anyone. "Good for him," Tal thought as he looked at a man who had at times been almost father to him.

Arthur had aged, silver streaks twined through his red hair, wrinkles etched his face but it was the eyes that looked the oldest. While they still had a humorous glint, a different emotion was now there also, the knowledge of death. The lose of his sons during the war had affected him greatly, Tal could feel the grief that still echoed in Arthur's thoughts. He was glad all the same though that the man had been able to pull himself together and go on with his life, it was the sign of a truly strong soul.

"Now that I have everyone's attention," Arthur said when everyone finally became quiet, "please sit and no more outbursts." His gaze shifted to his son, "If at all possible could the Aurors please not act like children, we will be having problems enough as the day continues." 

Ron had clearly understood Arthur's reprimand, and whether he was flushing red from embarrassment or anger Tal couldn't tell. He couldn't help but think that it might actually be fun to stay around, that was if Arthur continued to scold everyone like they were unruly hooligans.

"Tal if you would be please take your place?" Arthur asked politely, though making clear that Tal had better listen. "Good now that everything is settled," Arthur continued smoothly, ignore the glare Tal directed his way, " I believe we should start trying to answer some long awaited questions. If you would be so willing Mr…"

The answer was easily supplied, "Wittman, Talon Wittman."

"Then let us begin Mr. Wittman" The humorous glint wasn't evident in Arthur's eyes at all now. Tal could see why everyone had obeyed him so quickly, at the moment Arthur didn't look like a man to trifle with but then Tal was used to that. He knew that he himself projected the same impression and he knew what a good tactic it could be.

And while he still greatly respected Arthur, now more than ever, he couldn't let the man take the upper hand, it was the only way he could possibly leave the room with everything he wanted. He would try to be polite about it though, there was no reason to rub defeat in someone's face, unless of course they were jackasses. 

"Unless I'm on trial," Tal said idly never once letting it slip how irritated he was, "I'd be more comfortable in a chair, maybe they could be nice children," he absently waved a hand towards Ron and the other two Aurors, "and run get me a chair and maybe something to drink?" Usually Tal didn't play games, but this time was different he could just come right out and kill these people, he would have to use finesse and besides it was kind of fun to upset Ron. He could see the man's face turning red again.

"Mr. Wittman-,"Arthur began, only to be politely interrupted.

"Please call me Tal, Mr. Wittman makes me feel like a old man who sits on his ass all day, pretending to make decisions." He could see that his rude comments were beginning to affect the Arthur's calm façade, the other man's eyes were starting to spark dangerously.

"Tal," Arthur said seemingly calmly but Tal could see it took effort on his part, "in your own best interest I'm telling you to stop playing games…the Council is currently handling many problems and we simply don't have time for this."

The Head of Council was trying his hardest to stay in control, Tal almost felt guilty but it was just a part of life, and always had been. He knew Arthur realized exactly how little control the Council had over him but Tal was sure the other members were unaware of the fact. And to make the situation understood they would have to realize it and quickly.

"Yes!" Tal agreed finally letting anger slip into his voice, "Your correct we don't have time for games, so why don't _you_ quit playing them. As you well know this Council nor any council like it has any control over me. My magic is not your magic, that has been proven repeatedly in the past years, by trying to force others like me out of the wizard circles. So let me make this clear once and for all, you came to me for help not the other way around. I'll answer your questions when and where I feel like it. If that bothers you I'll leave…right now."

He could feel the anger and confusion that his words had created but he ignored them, never letting his focus move from Arthur. As he looked on and met Arthur's stare, the Head of Council tilted his head in what Tal readily realized was acknowledgment but not defeat.

And though Tal had won the small skirmish he couldn't help but wonder what had been going on to let Arthur so easily give him, an apparent outsider, control over the meeting.

"Now that we understand each other," Tal said quite charmingly, after everyone was still again "I'll be most happy to help you."

He added a smile, a polite one this time, just so they knew he could be nice…if he wanted to be.

--------------------

"Idiot! You stupid idiot!" Hermione chanted softly, though she wasn't sure if she meant it for herself or Ron. She had known from the start, even before she had seen Tal, that this meeting was going to be tricky. The Council never liked to admit they needed help and the only way to resolve this was with the help that Tal could offer them, or rather the help she hoped he could offer.

Now Ron might have ruined everything, she still couldn't believe he had attacked Tal. Even if nobody else had noticed, she saw how Tal had almost retaliated, gripping his wand readying for attack, her heart had nearly broke out of her chest it beat so hard. 

While she and Ron might never again be the friends or lovers they once were, the thought of him being hurt, it still made her feel lost. It was painful to remember how things had been before Harry betrayed - "NO!" She berated herself mentally, stopping her train of thought abruptly, "I won't think about it, not now, not ever. It's over."

Thankfully she was pulled away from her thoughts as Tal spoke. "Now that we understand each other, I'll be most happy to help you."

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, on one hand she doubted she would ever see this particular look on the Council member's faces ever again but being around Ron… "Now who's being stupid? Just forget about it!" she thought continuing her mental tirade.

It was hard to do though, every time she looked away her traitorous eyes went right back to him. Over the years he had filled out, his skin had tanned covering most of the scattered freckles. He might not be the most perfect looking man but she thought he was just fine…even with his face turning red from anger. 

It was the thought of anger that brought her mind back where it belonged and she quickly looked to Tal. Just in time to see him smile, she couldn't help thinking that he looked almost pleasant, if you didn't look at his eyes to closely. And she mentally thanked whatever gods should hear, for there actually being a person alive who could control himself. Perhaps if she prayed hard enough it might rub off on other people? But then that was probably to much to hope for.

Before she could get lost in her thoughts again, which she had been doing lately Draco had told her she was becoming senile, Arthur lifted his gravel then letting it fall, creating a deep thud which quickly garnered everyone's attention. Moments after he began speaking "Thank you Mr. Wittman…very polite of you and we would like to ask you about some things. Normally I would be the one asking questions but Ms. Granger is the one who has to personally deal with it, so I give her the floor."

For a moment Hermione was so surprised that she forgot to stand, but then good sense kicked in and she realized everyone was staring at her. Including Tal, it was the first time he had looked at her and when she met his eyes, it was like…well it was like spinning back into time. 

The eyes were the wrong color but for just a second she felt like she was looking Harry. The expression had for a fleeting instant been Harry's cynical humor but then common sense kicked in and she dismissed it as impossible, probably a result of her recent daydreaming. But at least now she felt he could be trusted…a little.

She knew she should try to gather her thoughts before she spoke but she was already so nervous, she was frightened she might faint right where she stood. So she said whatever came to mind, "Everything, I want to know everything." As soon as it came out of her mouth she realized exactly how inane it sounded and silently began insulting her own intelligence.

Surprisingly enough Tal seemed to disagree, looking her in the eyes smiling, "Well finally, someone who doesn't dick around." 

Hermione smiled back hesitantly, feeling flustered in a good way, "I assure you Mr. Wittman _I_ don't dick around," Tal was still looking at her and she could see the amusement in his eyes and couldn't help but be surprised at how relaxed she felt all the sudden.

"Tal my name is Tal, and Ms. Granger I'm quite happy to know that about you." He smiled mischievously, "I like dealing with people like you, so now lets get down to business."

--------------------

"He's going to regret this." Ron promised himself as he watched Tal speak to Hermione. Ron had seen the smile Tal had given Hermione, nobody should be looking at her like that except him! It only inflamed Ron more when she had smiled back at the traitorous bastard. 

A soft amusement was now showing on her face, bringing out the beauty she kept hidden away. It brought thoughts into Ron's head and it angered him to no ends that someone else besides him could evoke such a reaction from her.

It wasn't smart thought to let your enemies know your weaknesses and Ron knew that if he didn't calm himself everyone would know how angry he was. So forcing himself to turn away he took several deep breaths, imposing a calm expression onto his face, though inside his anger was still red hot and seething.

---------------------

"As far as I know," Tal began explaining, finally done with the games and wanting to get on with the business at hand "the magic started to change around thirty years ago but the effects are just now beginning to show. From what I've learned it's basically the ability to perform magic without wands, augmenting talents already present. Which you are already aware of, but there are other advantages to it. Two of them being telepathic and telekinetic abilities, not everyone has these particular talents though and usually when they do they aren't particularly in strong measures. There are other deviations but right now there are to many to list, but no matter how strongly the gifts present themselves it is very dangerous to attempt magic with wands if untrained, some --" 

"Yes," Hermione interrupted impatiently, wanting to get to the more detailed information, "I've already figured out that much, what I want to know is how you became involved and if you know how to train wizards in this type of magic."

"Same old Hermione," Tal thought, "to smart for her own good." He would have liked to keep secret just how much he was _involved_ but if he was going to get those kids he would have to be truthful, or at least to a point.

"Well," he drawled out answering her question, "You did say everything I suppose. For me it started a little less than seven years ago, I was in America, at first it was little things like my spells being too strong or not working correctly. It quickly evolved from there until I noticed that at times I didn't even need my wand. Then I started to hear things, such as people thoughts." He couldn't help the smirk of amusement when Council members starting to look at each other anxiously, they obviously had things to hide.

"Myself being muggle born I had heard of this kind of thing before but to muggles it wasn't referred to as a kind of magic, if anything they just considered it an oddity, a freak of nature. Fortunately a lot had been written about it so I studied as much as I could and began teaching myself. After a few months I had myself in control, mostly, and had also realized that certain difference existed that made it different from simple telepathic ability. I was able to sense other people like myself, ones already exhibiting it or merely having the potential. At first though I didn't find anybody nearly as strong in it as I was. I began to think it was just an another abnormality but then I met a woman who was as strong in Wild Magic as I was, she --"

He was interrupted again by a somewhat confused Hermione, "Wild Magic?" 

"That's what my students came to call it and everyone calls it that now," Tal explained patiently. "I'm not quite sure why they started calling it that but I think it refers to the fact that there are no regularities within it, or at least that we've found. To get back to what I was saying…it took me about six months to find another Wild Magic, her name was Kirish and she was already using her talent unknowingly. What took me by surprise was the fact she was a _true _muggle, she had no concept of magic but she had an incredible amount of natural control and within a few weeks she was practicing intricate spells. It's believed that our talents give us a instinctive understanding of the interlaying basics of magic, our children seem to learn at a progressed rate. But I'm off track again, after working with Kirish I explained the situation to her, she agreed to come with me and that year we found and tested nearly one hundred people, only sixteen turned out to have enough potential to train, the others who had wizard potential I sent to Hogwarts or invited them to come with Kirish and I."

"And how did you know exactly where to send them?" asked Hermione, she didn't look particularly happy about him knowing anything about Hogwarts. 

"Ms. Granger," he pointedly looked her in the eyes, "at this point that is irrelevant but I can assure you the knowledge will never be used against you." Tal could see that she wasn't happy with his answer, neither was the rest of the council but he wasn't prepared to deal with that question so he just continued on.

"The people we tested ranged in age anywhere from thirty years old to as young as two months, only four of these were from wizard families and the one wizard child that did test out was half muggle, all the rest were pure muggle" He could see the council members glancing anxiously at one another, he didn't quite know why but he stored the thought for later use, he continued as if nothing had happened, "Many of them were old enough to make the decision to come with us on their own but some were still many years off from being a legal age. So we had to approach their parents and convince them, all but two children were allowed to come with us. In the end though many of the family members decided to come with us including the lone wizard family, so with our group count at thirty-nine we decided to find a spot to build _our own _school."

At this point several wizards were getting ready to stand and question him, he cut them off defiantly, "Before you even ask the only detail I'm giving out is that it is located in a desert. As soon as Kirish was able to instruct on her own I went back out and began testing again. Within another year our numbers had risen to around to over one-hundred, at this time around ninety percent of the ones tested had potential to train with us and almost everyone came to Talis," There were many confused looks of confusion, "that's what Kirish and the rest, named the town."

"While I was away Kirish had also developed another way to find potential students, the only way to explain it is as a mental beacon. Unfortunately it also attracted some wizards, I had to put memory charms on most of them but some of them understood what we were trying to do. With their help we began to find out that we could combine traditional wizard magic with our own. 

It was around this time that we became aware that Council Aurors were trying to track us down. So we did what we could to avoid them and --"

"Exactly why did you try to avoid them?" Arthur demanded. "It would have been much easier for everyone if you had just cooperated." 

"Mr. Weasley," Tal questioned, using the name easily, "what would the council have done? It would have tried to take us over, even at that time you were beginning to worry. No!" He waved his hand about angrily, " Don't deny it. Talis would have been taken apart, the families forced to come here to the council and their magics pulled apart bit by bit until you were satisfied that we weren't the new Voldemorts!"

"How do we know your not?," shouted a voice from above, "For all we know you could be his bastard offspring!."

After that nobody could be held back and the room erupted once again in madness.

---------------------

Ron could hear his father over the raised voices but just barely, "Ron! Ron, you have to get them under control! If they get hold of Tal --" 

And then he could no longer hear his father's voice, hoping that everything was all right he yelled back in reassurance, "I'll try! Try and get somewhere safe!"

While his father might think Tal should be protected Ron disagreed and pushed his way through the crowd of people that were converging around Tal. Who knew they might even solve the problem for him and this way he could see exactly how strong the man was, it was doubtful that he had anything more than a few tricks up his sleeve though. Anything he got he deserved. 

"Noooo!" He had almost made it to the other Aurors when he heard the scream and seconds later he realized he couldn't move…no matter how hard he tried.

--------------------

"_Noooo!_"

Just as Tal was about to knock some dolt out of his way, his whole body froze…he couldn't move and from what little he could see the others were affected the same way. "Concentrate!" he willed himself, "move NOW!" It took all his willpower just turn his head, he wasn't even sure who he was looking for but he was sure the cry had been both mental and verbal. When his eyes brushed Hermione's he could feel the connection. He was surprised to find it was her and a bit impressed that her shields had been strong enough to hide her from him.

"_Hermione listen, you have to relax, it's the only way we will be able to move. Just relax._" He kept repeating the same thing over and over, he wasn't sure if it got through to her or if it even would. "_Relax, I'll help you, I'll come to Hogwarts, I promise. You have to let go first though. I promise." _

He hoped it would work, otherwise they were in deep shit.

--------------------

"_I'll help you_"

It was like the sun breaking through, she could feel the warmth, felt the darkness receding. All the sudden she was back in the council room and everything was still. "What happened?" she wondered in confuse.

She looked down into the raging mass of people and looked right into a pair of dark blue eyes, then she smiled, not completely sure why.

-------------------- 

Tal couldn't help but smile back she looked so…confused, he was fairly certain that she didn't realize what she had done. This wasn't the time to elaborate on it either, but maybe he could turn it in his favor. "If everyone doesn't sit back down right now," he snarled fiercely, "I'll do it again and I'm sure nobody wants that.

He hoped they listened the first time, Hermione's little trick had left him a bit shaken, it would be awhile before he got his focus back. His must have made it sound right though because everyone backed off quickly in apprehension. They retreated back to their seats as if they would somehow keep them safe. 

As soon as they were seated Tal began to speak, calmer this time though no less threatening. "Now lets make this clear _if_ I was another Voldemort you would all be dead right now but your not. So shut the hell up and listen, I'm only going to explain this once, so listen closely.

You may not like me or others like me but you need us. If you look at your records you will find that the birth rate of powerful pureblood children is decreasing" He saw Arthur look at Hermione and suddenly he realized they already knew about it. "This has been happening long before Voldemort and like Wild Magic, the effects are just now taking shape.

Yes Voldemort had some Wild Magic -" Before anyone could seriously panic Tal harshly shouted, "BE QUITE!" When all was calm again he continued, "As did Harry Potter and his mother Lily and your own Headmistress of Hogwarts has it also."

He could see that his words had hit the council hard, most of them wore expressions of fear or bewilderment, it was the looks of absolute hate that scared him the most though. Those people he knew would cause as much trouble as possible and even worse from what he could see Ron felt the same. This was going to be very risky.

"To put it simply the pureblood families are dying out and the magic has evolved itself into something that will be able to keep the wizard legacy alive…and it is our magic that will save yours."

Amid the shocked gasps and questioning voices Tal sat back in his chair and prepared the answers he knew would have to be given. Answers that would in all probability change the wizard world forever.


	4. Return To The Beginning

Chapter Three

****

Return To The Beginning

All he wanted was a little peace and quiet and of course a bed, he was literally falling asleep on his feet. Immediately after the Council ended he and Hermione had boarded the express, under the watchful eyes of a team of Aurors, and began to make their way to Hogwarts. All while they were on the train, and even when they arrived at Hogwarts, Hermione had continued to question him insistently about anything and everything.

And now that he had finally escaped Hermione's clutches here he was in Kirish's. Of course he should have known better than to even try and talk to her, he knew she was going to be in a bad mood. He couldn't help but wonder about just ending his life, the afterlife was probably very quiet and relaxing. But with his luck the nattering females would follow him, condemning him to an eternity of torture beyond all others.

Kirish's angry words invaded his thoughts, pulling him from the momentary peace of self. "_You fucking asshole! What were you thinking? We never agreed for you to go there! _

"Kirish look -" Tal began trying to calm her, hoping to appeal to her common sense, little though it was.

__

"Don't Kirish me," She rudely interrupted, her mental voice edged in anger._ "I'm not in the mood and another thing why the hell didn't you contact me before this? For all we knew you were dead!"_

"God this is almost as bad as arguing with her in person," Tal muttered aloud wearily.

In a few seconds a much more contrite Kirish sent, _"Oh, damn Tal you must be walking dead on your feet if I could hear that. I'm sorry, we were all just so worried. How did it go?"_

"It actually went much better than we thought it would," He sent back to, his mental voice sounding as bad as he felt._ "A few of the members are going to cause problems though, they don't want to thin their precious pureblood. They…Hell why don't I just show you?"_

"You sure your up to it?" Kirish asked in concern and he couldn't help but feel a little better at her apparent worry.

"Honey, I'm always up to it." Tal sent laughing.

__

"Yea, as the whole population is aware of!" she said cattily._ "Ok I'm ready when you are."_

Then their thoughts were quite except for the shared memories that spilled from one mind to another.

--------------------

Draco Malfoy, former Death Eater, current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, tossed and turned fitfully in his hard won sleep. It had over time become a normal occurrence for him to have nightmares as soon as his eyes closed. In the beginning they had told him the nightmares would fade with time, unfortunately they were wrong, in time they didn't fade away, they became worse then ever.

Tonight was no different, as soon he slipped into his usual uneasy sleep the nightmares came, older ones that hadn't haunted him in years. Simpler ones that were all the worse, just remembered emotions, excruciating pain, terrifying anger. 

The nightmare rolled on no matter how hard his dream self fought to end it, the process would have to run itself out, but then it began to change, subtle at first until he was somewhere else entirely. It was still dark but it was warmer, safer. Noises changed, until they all collided in a odd buzz, something just beyond his understanding.

He didn't know why but he was absolutely sure that if he could just find where the sound was coming from that everything would be all right. But the more he strained to find it the farther it slipped away, until he was so far from it he could no longer hear it's oddly soothing rhythm. 

"_No, please don't leave me again!_" 

Anguish flooded him, the calm darkness receding, leaving him stranded like a lost child. He continued to cry out in his dream, trying to get back, but to no avail. 

He woke into a shuddering state of awareness, covered in sweat and tears falling blindly down his cheeks. He couldn't help but wonder which was worse the nightmares or the loss of the fleeting peace. 

"I can't handle this." Draco thought shakily as he sat up. Sleep had become a forgotten comfort long ago, usually he dealt with the lack of it fine but lately the wear was beginning to show, he was losing weight and becoming irrational over the smallest things. 

Even his skillful act was slipping, words fell from his lips, a glare that wasn't meant to show. For so long he had been presenting a different person to the world, now at times he wasn't sure if he could even remember who he really was.

His body ached at every moment, it felt as if his very bones were decaying within his body, he was so very tired. If felt like he was standing alone, never moving, while the universe advanced on its own personal journey. 

Sometimes he just wished to no longer be alone, to have someone who could actually understand. But it was weakness to need, it had always been his greatest weakness, haunting him throughout his dismal life.

His hand moved to a dresser besides his bed, the only thing he had kept from his childhood, nimble pale fingers slipped under a drawer to open a secret compartment.

When he had been a child, secrets had been kept in there, pages and pages of his thoughts and worries, a small pictures of the only time his family had been truly happy, a flower from his mother's garden. And as he grew so did so did his secrets until nothing could hold them, then everything had been burned to be remember only if he chose to.

Now the only secrets the drawer kept were of sleep. Vials lay cluttered, all but one empty. His hand clenched around it, tonight would be the last night of sleep. Severus wouldn't be back until next term, and while Draco could find more ingredients if necessary he didn't want to. To many people would ask questions, to many would look at him with pity or hate, to many would see what he had become, to many…

-------------------

__

"Kirish! Did you hear that?" 

"Just barely, who in the hell was it? They had to be strong to break into our link."

"I don't know who it was but it must be someone here at Hogwarts, I could hear them loud and clear. The protection wards must have muffled it for you."

"Tal be careful," Kirish warned, worry plain in her voice, "_someone untrained and already that strong…they could tear you apart without understanding."_

"Damn it!" Tal sent, frustrated with the whole situation,_ "I don't know if I can handle this by myself, as soon as I made it to Hogwart grounds I could feel them. Its like a maelstrom here, the wards must have hidden them from me before" _

"If you need help you know where to find me…I'll come a'runnin." Kirished offered, not knowing what else to say. Tal rarely showed emotion like he was tonight, it was strange.

__

"Thanks Kirish, I might have to call you. I -"

"Tal," Kirish sent as if she was talking to a child,_ "go to bed, I can tell from here your about to drop from exhaustion."_

Tal sent her an image of him bowing down at her feet, _"Always telling me what to do huh. Tell Lillis I love her will you?"_

"I'll tell her, you could tell her yourself though, she's right here, your call woke her, and she knows exactly who I'm talking to."

"Yea I could that," Tal said, agreeing with her easily,_ "and then with my luck she'd lay a massive guilt trip on me and I'd be back there before I knew what was happening. Just tell her I love and miss her and for God's sake don't let her know where I am, no matter how she begs!_

The only answer he received was Kirish's amused laughter.

He stood a moment a longer in the empty tower, letting the night swallow him, before he made his way back through the castle and into his private rooms to finally fall into long awaited sleep.

--------------------

He woke slowly, stretching and yawning, letting his mind wonder aimlessly. Breakfast was done and over with he was sure, Draco knew he should at least try and get up but for now he just didn't seem to care. For once he had actually slept, a deep peaceful sleep.

Sunlight splayed across his half lidded eyes and he turned his head sideways on his pillow to gaze out his bedroom window. The sky outside was a light blue ebbed with gray clouds that would soon gather and bring icy rain. For now though it was beautiful, to much time had passed since he had accepted something as it was. 

Usually he sat and analyzed everything until there was no beauty or peace, just the plain simple facts. Life was hard enough to live as it was without having to deal with emotions, for him facts did just fine. Once again though he found his normal habits falling away from him, so for the moment he just went along with the new idea, enjoying the view.

"That must have been some strong sleeping draught." he thought lazily. Or it might have simply been the absence of the nightmares, they had abandoned him for the night, replacing by odd incoherent dreams filled with buzzing. It still seemed odd to him but the more he tried to puzzle it out the heavier he eyes began to feel. So he decided to close his eyes, just for a few minutes then he would get up.

Almost as soon as his eyes closed though Draco slipped back into a peaceful rest. So he wasn't aware when Hermione and a dark haired man walked in minutes later and stood at the side of his bed. He also wasn't aware of what a serene picture he made, with the sunlight still playing upon his face and wisps of blonde white hair trailing about his face.

--------------------

The Great Hall became unnaturally quiet as Hermione introduced Tal to the students. "Children this is Talon Wittman, he will be staying at Hogwarts for a short time. While he is here he will be holding special classes for students that qualify. You are to accord him the same respect that you would give any other Hogwarts professor."

Still there were no outraged mumblings about new classes and busier schedules, instead all eyes including the teachers', were trained attentively on Tal. Hermione noticed that quite a few students seemed to recognize him, her "_special students_" though only held looks of intense confusion. To her right she could see Tal smirking at them.

"What in the world is that about?" She wondered but didn't have time to dwell on it. "Mr. Wittman will be testing students throughout the next week," Ah there were the expressions of dismay, "only those who pass will be accepted into his classes. Now," She said easily changing subjects, "everyone is released, the train to Hogsmeade will be leaving in fifteen minutes, don't be late!"

Once everyone had left the Great Hall she turned to Tal with a suspicious look, "That seemed to go smoothly didn't it?" 

Much to her annoyance Tal only shrugged elaborately, "I noticed some teachers were missing."

Hermione would have liked to continue her line of questioning but she knew he would only say what he wanted, so she just let it go and answered his question. "Yes, there were two missing, Professors Snape and Malfoy, Professor Snape is the Potions master and Deputy Headmaster," she eyed him a bit irritably, "but you probably already know that. He won't be here this term, he's currently at Durmstrange acting as temporary headmaster, I'm sure you've heard they just received permission to re-open. And Draco," she looked up at Tal again but this time with worry in her eyes, not noticing her slip of tongue "I have no idea where he is, its not like him to miss something this important."

"Maybe we should check his rooms?" Tal queried softly, he had his own reasons to see Draco.

Hermione nodded in agreement before she left the Hall and began walking down the corridor. She was absently aware of Tal trailing behind her, it would probably upset Draco, but she couldn't think of a good reason for Tal not to come.

She knew Draco hadn't been sleeping well, he was still hounded terribly by nightmares. It would probably help if he would talk about it but he wouldn't even relate them to her. They had become close after everything that had happened, often talking together late into the night. As busy as she had become lately they had barely even said hi to one another…she hoped he was okay.

After walking for several long minutes down dark, empty corridors she reached the door that led to Draco's private rooms. No matter how hard she tried to change his mind he never did, he said he was happy in the dungeons. She didn't think it was healthy for him, physically or mentally.

Before doing anything else she turned to Tal and put a finger to his lips, signaling for silence. If Draco was actually resting she didn't want to chance waking him.

With a softly spoken _Alohomora_, the door swung open to reveal a elegantly decorated sitting room. 

Spelled candles hung suspended around the rooms, their flames leaving auras of silver and gold. Everywhere light was being reflected back onto itself from bits of glass imbedded in the ceiling, it was like walking in a cavern of diamonds. Elaborately detailed tapestries draped the walls, softening the stony surroundings. Hanging above the fireplace, which was made of black quartz, was a beautiful painting of the Hogwarts' grounds. Dark mahogany furniture was placed about the room, it was obviously hand detailed with scenes carved into the wood.

Hermione was used to it though, she barely looked around until she reached a door on the left of the room. When she noticed Tal wasn't by her side, she turned to find him gazing around the room mutely. It had been so long since someone besides herself and Draco came here, she had forgotten how people reacted on their first visit. "It's amazing isn't it? After the war he spent months in here, never coming out, not letting anyone in. We finally had to force our way in, this is what we found, Draco never would explain." 

Tal was still looking around the room, Hermione couldn't see his expression when he answered. "Amazing? That doesn't even begin to explain it, it's much more than that." When he finally turned to face her, she was surprised to see his eyes glistening oddly, full of emotion.

"Tal, what's wrong?" 

"It's fine, everything's fine," he assured her, his attention already back on his surroundings, "it's just a bit overwhelming. This room has a signature to it, emotions made it and most of them are very unsettling." He gave an odd laugh, "Lillis would have an absolute fit if she was in here."

"Lillis?" She couldn't help but ask, she had heard how his voice changed, became soft when he said the name. 

Tal regarded Hermione steadily, finally he seemed to come to a decision, "She's an empath, not yet fully trained but extremely powerful. Most empaths only sense things but Lillis is like a magnet, the emotions come right to her." Then voice hardening, he changed the subject abruptly, "If we're going to check on Draco let's do it, there are things I need to do."

Hermione stood for a short moment in bewilderment, the way Tal changed moods so quickly was beyond her understanding, it unsettled her beyond words. 

She turned to the bedroom door not even bothering to knock, just gently slipped through. A sigh of relief came from her, Draco was sleeping and it seemed peaceful. Without even realizing how intimate the gesture was, she brushed the hair from his face and started stroking his cheek.

"He doesn't sleep well, nightmares and such from the War. Everything seems fine for now though," she murmured almost absently. It still amazed her how beautiful Draco was when he was asleep, his face hid nothing unlike when he was awake. Then he hid everything behind a mask, almost like there were two people residing within him. "I think I'll sit here with him until he wakes up, your welcome to join me if you like or I'll introduce you later."

"Later will be fine." With that as his parting statement he walked quickly out of the room. Almost like he was running away.

Hermione didn't notice though, she was still sitting by Draco and she was feeling very relaxed and sleepy. Which was odd considering how worried she had been most of the day. It didn't matter though, things would work out, everything would be fine. For now she'd just rest a bit.

--------------------

Damn it all to hell, he didn't need this, not now! Defiantly not now. He didn't have time to deal with someone else's repressed emotional scars. His own were well and gone and he sure wasn't going to put himself through that shit again…never again. No matter how pretty the face was! 

"I'll just keep an eye on him," Tal assured himself, "if things get out of hand I'll get Kirish to help." Yes, that was definitely the way to handle it. 

For some reason last night he had thought the disrupting voice belonged to Draco, he hadn't been sure of it but he was now after seeing him he was. He would need Kirish's help anyhow if Draco's magic decided to manifest itself fully. 

--------------------

"WHY?" Draco shouted harshly, ignoring Hermione's wounded expression. The absolute last thing he needed was some stranger seeing him when he was sleeping, when he was defenseless.

"I'm sorry Draco." Hermione pleaded anxiously, he had been so calm before, she hadn't wanted him to become so upset. "I had no good reason for him not to come…I'm sorry please believe me. He wasn't even here long, just enough to know you were okay."

"Fine, fine," Draco said while running his hands through his already disheveled hair, "I just don't like people being in my rooms, especially when I'm asleep."

"I promise, never again." She assured, glad he had finally calmed down. Even though everything seemed to be settled she wanted to make sure the subject was changed. "Do you want to hear how the council meeting went?"

At the nod of his head she began to tell him about the whole awful mess. 

When she was done speaking he turned his eyes from the wall he had been staring at and faced her. "Can we trust him?"

"I - … _I_ think we can and should, Arthur agrees with me. Some Council officers will be going to Talis though just in case, a preliminary report will be sent back to the council in a few months."

"You know," he spoke thoughtfully, after she finished speaking "a lot of purebloods aren't going to like the fact that their precious clean blood is going to be crossed with that of these new wizards. Even if it's the only way we won't die out completely." 

"Certain members already don't like it," she said sadly with downcast eyes, "including Ron." 

Draco gently lifted her chin "Herm we've already talked about this, nobody is the same and you can't expect them to be, not after everything that happened."

"It certainly wasn't a fairytale ending was it." 

The words came out sounding bitter, all Draco could do was hold her. It was the least he could do for this tired woman who had helped bring him back from the edge of death. 

"I know you won't like it but Tal is going to be observing everyone's classes, so he can have more insight into the students. After all the students are tested he's going to start his own classes…I'd like you to attend them when they begin. I may trust him but I'm not stupid enough to believe that he doesn't have his own best interests in mind."

"You waited until now to ask that just so I'd feel guilty didn't you?" But he smiled, letting her know he didn't mean it. "I'll probably regret it considering I haven't even met the man but I'll keep an eye on him."

"I knew you would," she said confidently, still wrapped in his arms.

--------------------

A half awake Tal stumbled through the doors that led into the main hall, he slowly made his way to the main table and slumped into his seat between Hermione and Draco. As soon as he sat he reached for the coffee, it had taken him hours to convince the house elves that he wanted coffee instead of tea. Hot scalding liquid splashed onto his lap as he brought the cup to his lips, cursing under his breath he tried to sop the coffee up with a napkin.

Beside him an evidently amused Hermione was laughing softly, "Haven't quite woken up yet I see."

He ignored her cheerfulness, he never was at his best in the morning and today was worse than usual. His sleep had been plagued with nightmares and he knew for certain they weren't his own. It could possibly be one of the students but he highly doubted it. It had to be Draco, how he kept making links Tal couldn't figure out. He'd have to look into it. For now he'd just have to hope Draco didn't completely break through his shields, that would be the worst thing possible. Having someone digging around in his mind would get him killed.

Near the end of breakfast the coffee was finally taking affect, jolting his nerves. He turned to Hermione, "I was wondering if I could begin observing classes today?"

"Of course, you may begin whenever you wish. Do you plan on beginning tests today?"

"I'm probably going to wait a few days 'til I've gotten used to everyone and everything."

Then looking to his other side at Draco he spoke carefully, "After I start my classes I'm going to need to work closely with the Potions and Defense Against Dark Arts teachers, just thought I'd let you know beforehand. Your also welcome to come and sit in on the classes, its only fair considering."

He noticed that Draco and Hermione exchanged a quick glance, most people wouldn't have even noticed, before Draco answered. "By all means I'll be most happy to help anyway possible."

Tal couldn't even catch a glimpse of what Draco was thinking, the man obviously had amazingly strong shields for never being trained. "It would be nice it he could keep that kind of control while sleeping," Tal reflected cynically but aloud he said, "Well now that everything's settled I think I'll go back to trying not to fall asleep in my plate." 

He gave Draco his friendliest smile backed up with all the mental reassurance he could muster. Draco's eye _may _have twitched ever so slightly in response or it could have just been a nervous tick. "Well fuck," Tal thought.

He turned back to his plate to find Hermione looking at him oddly, he raised an eyebrow inquiringly and she cut her eyes to the Slytherin table. When his eyes followed to the direction she had been looking he found three seventh year girl that had expressions closely resembling love struck cows. Tal was nearly scared to death to even try and figure out what they were thinking, in his experience young hormonal girls had some very provocative thought and he might not be able to handle them at the moment. He might as well just see…but he really didn't need these kind of complications.

"_Hell he's the best looking professor I've ever seen. Of course he's not a real teacher….wonder if he gives extra classes?."_

"Nice big hands, big feet…"

It was the last girl however that startled him the most. She didn't have any definite thought but the images…hell he was getting hard just seeing them. Somehow the girl had managed to start a fantasy of him and Draco in the dungeons, shagging each other out of their minds. From the look of the girl she was getting off on it to. Tal sent a slight thought pattern to the girl, it sent her over the edge and she began gasping in the most…intoxicating way. Just about ever male in the room was looking to her direction, when she finally came around enough to notice the attention she scrambled out of her seat and ran outside.

"What did you do?" Draco demanded coldly.

"How the hell did he know?" Tal wondered to himself. He was about to explain in polite terms but then decided to try and get a rise out of Draco, after all hadn't the man kept him from a good nights rest? "She was having some very entertaining thoughts…I didn't do anything," Well that was a small white lie but who cares, "she was practically cramming them into my head. I couldn't help but look at them and let me tell you, she finds the thought of you and me together _very_ arousing."

To his left he heard Hermione start to choke on her food and saw her hand flash out to grab a goblet of wine. His attention however never left Draco, who was turning slightly pinkish colors but his shields were still clamped tightly shut. 

To Tal's surprise Draco actually snarled an answer to him, "I'm not a fucking faggot whether you are or not…so stay away from me or I won't be responsible for the repercussions!." 

Tal was taken by taken aback by the emotion that gripped him, he would have liked to examine it, but they were gone as soon as they came. 

"And just so you know the first class your going to observe is mine…with the seventh-year Slytherins and Gryffindors, so you'd better get used to your little fan club."

"Oh hell…can my life get any more screwed?" Tal asked himself, wondering why the fates seemed to find it so entertaining to mess his life up. 

And Hermione apparently hadn't choked to death because she was snickering in the most un-ladylike way. He didn't think that the Headmistress of Hogwarts should find the situation so amusing. "To bad she didn't choked" Tal thought maliciously, he knew she wasn't going to forget anytime soon and she was anything like she used to be she'd remember it forever.

A fan club just the damned thing he didn't need, hopefully Kirish would never find out, then he'd really never be able to forget.

--------------------

"…and besides that you should try teaching a class when half of them are gawking at him like love struck fools. It doesn't help that he lets them get away with it either, all he cares about is getting an ego boost! Then of course there's his classes…he actually made _me_ participate on the threat of making me leave, which would have been fine except you want me to spy on him! So for _three_ hours everyday I have to sit on a floor, a hard cold floor I might add, and what's the term…oh yes…free my mind."

Draco was pacing back and forth in Hermione's office, while he told her exactly what he that of the one and only Tal Wittman. Who cared if he was ranting and raving like a child, certainly he didn't care. The last thing he needed was this…this asinine prick trying to turn his life upside down, he had to constantly watch him. 

Hermione may not have specified that but it didn't matter because Draco knew that there was no way that they could possibly trust Tal. The man was arrogant and for some damned reason everyone thought that whatever spouted out of his mouth was sent from some sacred force and besides that Draco didn't need anyone trying to dig around in his head. He still couldn't believe the nerve…

********************

"Okay I know after nearly two weeks of meditation your wondering when you actually get to try something challenging so…"

"Bloody hell, he has such a complex and these stupid children just feed it." Draco muttered to himself, ignoring the glare a seventh year shot him for talking about Tal. He swore that every time Tal allowed his students to do anything they started cheering like he'd let them loose in a candy store or for some of them…his bed. 

All around him he could see students, female and male alike, that still had that overly glazed look in their eyes and Tal obviously loved the attention. Didn't he know that you couldn't be friendly with them or you lose control of the class? Well he'd figure it out soon enough and Draco was going to enjoy the show when it all finally came to a head.

"So today we're going to see how many of you can concentrate enough to form a mental link. Now it's very important that when you began that you stay very calm, it's possible to overload your partner's mind and cause a lot of mental stress. Now that you have some idea of what's going to happen I want you to all choose a partner, normally a teacher would assign them but I want to see who chooses who."

It was no surprise when students immediately started calling out for Tal's attention.

"Mr. Wittman will you -"

"Professor!"

"No he's going to be my -"

"Shut up you don't even know what's happening!"

Oh this was lovely, surrounded by screeching high-pitched female voices, just perfect. "Let's see you get out of this one Wittman." Draco thought smugly.

"Everyone be quiet NOW! Unfortunately I can't be anyone's partner, I already have one…Professor Malfoy." 

"The hell you do!" Draco nearly shouted but stopped himself in time, he wouldn't let the man goad him into anything. And there was no way he was going to let Tal anywhere near his personal thoughts. "Oh Mr. Wittman it's quite alright, I wouldn't want to deprive any of the students of such a practiced…teacher."

"Why Professor Malfoy I didn't know you though so highly of me! Of course I can't let you sit this one out, not with all the work you've done to get here. I completely understand that you might be nervous, but just think what a good example it is for the students…two of their teachers working so well _together_."

Draco could barely hold back the snarl that threatened to pass from his lips, between Tal's smirk and the students murderous jealous gazes… There was simply no way out Tal had made sure of that. "Asshole!" He shouted mentally, letting go of some anger and actually feeling a bit better for it. So he simply smiled, though it was a bit cold and promised retribution. He vaguely heard Tal explaining to the class what they would have to do but he wasn't absorbing any of the instructions. His mind was busy conjuring visions of Tal being slowly tortured…it was so very pleasant and relaxing, unfortunately the asshole himself materialized in Draco's line of vision, breaking him away from his fantasy.

"So you ready to give it a go?"

He was absolutely sure that there was a double meaning in the question, there always was when Tal spoke. "If I must." Draco barely ground out from between clenched teeth.

"Oh you must," he could see Tal grinning openly, did the man every think of anything besides sex? "now just relax, close your eyes and open your mind."

It happened almost immediately and it was the strangest thing, it felt like someone was wrapping him in a blanket, so warm. Like the times when he was young and his mother would smooth back his hair and whisper how he was the only one she loved, her dragon. It was amazing, he never wanted to leave, all of his tension was loosening…drifting away…so warm…

"_Well you seem to be having a good experience, not everyone reacts this well._"

What! Who? Sounds so familiar, he knew it from somewhere…

__

"It's Tal, just concentrate for a minute and it will all come back. By the way if you try to separate your speech from your thoughts it will be easier for both of us."

Huh?…..NO! This wasn't happening, he didn't want Tal in his head, seeing his memories. NO! Have to get away, get away…away.

"_WAIT! Draco listen, it's okay I won't look at anything I promise, it's okay. Just relax, go back to where you were._"

It was the voice, he couldn't help it, he started drifting again. He shouldn't, he should fight, leave but it was so warm and soft… The air whipping through his hair, snitch in front of him, GOT IT! Yes, they'd won! A fire blazing, surrounded by people laughing and playing. Sneaking through halls at night, a black dog, a tired man on a train. 

Oh, the colors green and silver. They were so real he could touch them, if only he could get close enough but they kept moving, shifting, twining. No corner of his mind was quiet, the colors were everywhere…

"_Draco! Draco, listen you can't do this, it will hurt us both! You have to stop, I can't do it for you. Listen!"_

Why should he? It felt so good, everything was so bright and clear. He was a dragon, nothing could hurt him, he was invincible! Effortlessly he winged to the twining colors, this time he'd get them. Almost…yes! They were his, so pretty. What's that? Red?

__

"No, Leave!"

It was his, he could do what he wanted! See it was in his hand, swirling red and black, hot. No, No, burning, red eyes, scars, hurts hurts! "_STOP! PLEASE_!" Tal, it was Tal's fault. "_LET GO! NOW!_" Pushing, fighting , there that was the way out. Rip a hole, go through, out, now.

Draco's eyes opened, he was on the floor shaking, he could feel his eyes tearing with pain. Children were clustered around him, talking and yelling but he couldn't hear. All he could do was shake. He managed to get to his feet and saw Tal laying against the wall as if he had been thrown there. 

It didn't matter though all he had to get out, there was the door, and then he was running out of the room.

********************

"Damn him, damn him, damn him!" Draco softy said over and over, not noticing Hermione's worried expression. He still wasn't sure exactly how much Tal had taken from his memories. The only thing he seemed to have of Tal's was miscellaneous information, well not exactly miscellaneous but it certainly wasn't what he'd probably taken from Draco.

To make matters worse his nightmares had been even worse than usual the last few days. It was probably Tal's fault, at this point he could blame the rising sun on Tal, if he had his own way those particular memories would have never reached the surface again. 

He could only hope the dreams went away soon, Snape wouldn't be back for months yet and all the sleeping draught had exhausted weeks ago. And he wasn't about to ask for the needed ingredients, they would be near impossible to find and he didn't need the questions right now.

All the sudden he was brought out of his thoughts by a hand shaking his shoulder. 

"Draco!," a voice spoke insistently. 

He was confused for a moment until he remembered he was in Hermione's office. She looked quite worried he must have been lost in his thoughts longer than he knew. "I'm fine, just thinking." He knew that wouldn't do it though, she was going to want to know what happened. "Actually I'm not fine, something happened in Tal's class a few days ago, he had us practicing talking to each other, but then he started digging around in my memories."

She was angry he realized, he had thought after hearing everything about it she would merely be…questioning. 

"Do you want me to talk to him?" she asked with the anger apparent in her voice, he'd forgotten that she knew how much the memories bothered him. 

It was comforting to know he still had at least one person he could depend on. "No, I'll deal with it. It wasn't his fault…entirely, I wasn't paying very much attention." Draco was so tired he couldn't even hold onto his anger, the only thing he felt was tired. It was evident to, otherwise he would never try to protect Tal or so he hoped. "Look I'm just going to go to my rooms and rest, I'll feel better soon." 

Hermione still wanted to talk, he could see that plainly enough but he also knew she cared for him therefore she'd let him alone…for now.

When he was finally laying in his bed, surrounded by silk sheets, he let himself acknowledge the fact that he was more scared than angry. What had happened with Tal, he had never felt anything like that before. He might say that he never wanted it to happen again but in reality he was scared to lose it again. It had been so perfect for a few moments, he had felt whole, then it had all fell apart. 

Everything in his life fell away, no matter how much he wanted it again he couldn't have it, it would be to dangerous for him. He couldn't deal with emotions like those anymore, the only thing he could do was avoid Tal as much as humanly possible. 

--------------------

"_Kirish_" Tal sent trying to locate her but not yet having any luck. Usually he would talk to her during the day but he had just now finally felt Draco slipping off into sleep. 

Due to the circumstances he had to be careful, anything little thing could now send Draco over the edge into his full blown potential. So Tal was having to limit his magic as much as possible, even talking to Kirish had been off limits until now. Always before Draco's sleeping patterns had been to unpredictable but he was finally in a deep sleep, one that Tal could keep the nightmares from.

He couldn't be sure exactly what Draco had taken through their link but if he had taken any important memories Tal was certain things wouldn't still be how they were. 

Since that class Draco had been avoiding him and Tal thanked whatever happenings that let it continue. It had taken him days to get the link under control, if Draco had been more aware of it or tried to use it…even he didn't quite know what would happen. 

As far as he knew something like this had never happened, it was an open link. It seemed to have all the same possibilities as normal links. Thank everything that nothing seemed to be manifesting itself through the link yet

When Draco's mind had linked to Tal's it had been more than he could handle, it knocked him unconscious for almost a full day. Tal still hadn't been able to feel out the new link. 

It was the dreams though that had been the worse, while he was unconscious he hadn't been able to suppress the link so he had to endure Draco's nightmare's with him. He wasn't sure how Draco was able to manage day to day life while never getting any sleep, so now whenever possible he tried to keep the nightmares away from Draco. 

He hoped it helped a little, he couldn't help but understand, even if he didn't want any part of Draco, oh yes he could defiantly understand about nightmares. It was so much like his own past.

"_Hey! Knock, knock, open up or I can't find you._" An irritated voice interrupted his thoughts.

"_Sorry Kirish, is this better?_" Well that didn't bode good, his new link must take president over any others. She was sure to feel that something was off, she was so going to be so pissed.

"_Tal? WHAT THE FUCKING HELLS DID YOU DO?_" Kirish screamed with even more anger than Tal had expected. Maybe the changed were more apparent than he thought.

"_Calm down_," Tal sent trying to appeal to her common sense once again, hoping it might work for once "_I didn't know you'd be able to tell so quickly. I can't let you see it in memories so I'll just have to tell you, so pay close attention._" As he explained the situation he monitored her emotions best he could. She seemed to be taking it relatively well, amazement seemed to be the main feeling, with just a little speculation.

"_Tal I don't know how it feels to you but to me you feel almost like a totally different person. Your signature has changed, not much, just enough that I couldn't contact you._"

"_Well actually,_ _I haven't been able to feel it out completely. Draco has absolutely no training, he established this link without his full power. So can you imagine what's going to happen when he comes into his full potential, especially without training?_"

"_God damned. I assume your wanting me to come? Right?_" Kirish sounded like she could care less if he wanted her there or not so he might as well give in will it looked like his idea.

"_If you can, I wasn't sure if the Aurors were still there or not._"

"_They left two days ago and the whole town threw a party the night they left. I've never met such a bunch of arrogant pricks, especially your friend Ron. Tal…,"_ Kirish hesitated he could almost see her chewing on her lips, "_this might make you mad but I have to ask, you know I do. Does Draco know you who you really are and the part you played in the war?_"

"_I'm not sure," _Tal admitted unhappily, "_I don't think so. If he did things wouldn't be like they are, for instance if they knew I used to be Harry Potter, well I'd probably be dead before I could say help._"


	5. Forsake All Others

Chapter Four

Forsake All Others

Through out history there have been many men, both wizard and muggle, who have left their mark on the world surrounding them. 

Some were dark, evil tyrants, who threatened to tear the world asunder with their terrible ways but all the same they changed the world, so be it that they used the wrong means it was still changed.

Then there were the other men, the ones who fought on the side of good, righting wrong, dying before their deeds could even be known. While they left no part of themselves to be seen, it was the simple acts they did that affected the people around them. Instead of trying to change the world they change the perspective the world was seen through. They were the little known men, willing to take the back, never caring to grab the glory, always working for the good of all.

Others still were outrageously brave, always in the front leading the troops into battle, taking all they needed to bear, making the hard decisions that no one else would. Great statues were erected in their honor, flowers and gold was showered upon them. They were the stuff of legend, the tales growing larger with every story told. Until they became children's stories, things to be told in the dark of night, uttered in childlike reverence.

The dreamers though, they were the everlasting ones, always ridiculed for their beliefs, they fought for them nonetheless. They understood that they had a role in life, a void to fill and they did so willingly. The future was clear to them, they saw the roads which led to rightful change and they led the masses through time, always able to perceive what other could never understand.

These were the heroes, the people that gave hope in all forms, that was what the wizarding world needed. A hero. Someone to bring the people together once again.

Unfortunately nobody had yet filled the role, and the ones that once did were now all departed. Whether from fighting the dark or joining the dark, it still didn't change the fact they were gone.

But Ron knew that many a man could be perceived as a great person, no matter how little they might actually be, he was different though he intended to be the hero, the one who saw the danger before all others. In the end they would understand and thank him, only a person who stood as he did, between the light and dark could fully understand what would soon overcome their way of life, unless someone acted against it.

While in Talis he had seen it clearly, they were stronger, their children quicker, they were nearly muggle in all ways, they held true to no traditions. They would overtake his world and change it into some totally different and wrong. Everything they had fought to save from Voldemort would once again be lost, and all their sacrifices would be for nothing.

When all was said and done everyone would finally understand that a hero had always stood before them, though often times ignored and pushed into the shadows. After all hadn't he been the one to find Harry out? To see beyond the image and accept that he was no longer the boy he grew into manhood with, to see that he had left their side for one he felt was stronger. It had been beyond painful to tell everyone that Harry was a traitor, a person who had been more like a brother than a friend, it hurt more than he could ever admit.

So didn't that give him the right to say he understood sacrifice? Understood what it really meant?

Not only had he lost Harry but he had also lost Hermione, he never thought she would leave but she had, saying that they had become to different as time went on. But he knew the real reason, she had always believed that Harry was innocent, that everyone had been tricked. For all he tried to talk to her, to help her understand why he had done what he had, Hermione had never accepted it. It still hurt to know she thought so little of him, that she would think he could kill his own best friend. She didn't understand that if Harry had been his old self he would have thanked Ron for taking him away from the dark. No it hadn't been Harry he'd killed so long ago, it had merely been a shadow of a once great person.

And that was why Ron was walking through muggle London, in the dead of winter, with dark clouding boiling in the sky threatening with rain and sleet, he was doing this so there would no longer be any shadows, no more fallen comrades. He hadn't been able to stop the inevitable then but this time he would.

As he continued to walk, the rain finally began to fall, mixed with sleet. It was near the time when Christmas shopping started, but not many people chose to endure the weather. Puddles were froze over, full of murky undistinguishable mess. For any other person the day might have been an omen of things to come, but Ron no longer believed in such things, he finally understand that only one thing affected a person's future, themselves.

That was all he had left now, only himself, but that was a good thing, it didn't leave him with things to cloud his mind. Even Hermione, someone he had desperately wanted, was beginning to fade, she had never understood how good of a person he was, never fought to stay with him. And while he might not want her like he did once it still made him angry to see her to look at anyone else. How dare she believe someone else would be better for her? He had always done what was right for her whether she saw it or not.

Ron was so caught up in his thoughts that he nearly passed the building he had been looking for, but at the last minute he realized where he was. It would be a relief to finally get out of the cold drizzle, before he even raised he hand to knock the door opened, revealing a heavy weight balding man with greedy eyes. "Hello Conall" It was absolutely amazing how just looking at the man made Ron want to slap him.

"Weasley," the man said in acknowledgement, "we weren't sure you were coming, we were almost ready to leave."

Oh the man irritated him! "Well it's a good thing you didn't or else you couldn't see the present I brought. Would you?" He could literally see the man's eyes twitch with greed, Ron would have to keep a watch on him, it wouldn't do for one man's greed to ruin the plan. "Now are you going to let me in out of the bloody rain?"

Conall nodded his shiny head, in agreement to which question Ron didn't know and he really didn't care. 

As they made their way through the foyer and into an office two other men stood up from their seats, shaking Ron's hands. Danton Wright and Albert McKennen, from two of the most influence able families, rich beyond imagination, these were the men he really needed, not Conall Amston, he was merely a lackey, for lack of a good description.

"Hello Albert, Danton how are you?" 

It was Danton who answered, "We're doing fine, but I hear Tal Wittman has turned Hogwarts into his personal playground. My daughter Merle tells me that he has the run of the school, disrupting everything and has _those_ children thinking their something special." 

Albert merely nodded in agreement with the man's words.

Ron still couldn't help but wonder why Albert McKennen had joined in their planning, he was a nondescript, pleasant man with a ready smile, he himself had been a Hufflepuff as had most of his family. Danton he could understand, he was a strong willed man who hated to be on the losing end of anything, Albert still confused him though.

"The Council has kept me busy, tomorrow will be the first time I've been there since Wittman arrived. I can assure you though he won't be running roughshod over me."

"I should hope not," Danton said.

Every time he came he swore he wouldn't left Danton take control, but it didn't seem to matter because he always did. But this time Ron had something nobody else had.

"Actually though the reason I wanted to meet was this," Ron said evenly as he withdrew a small vial of red liquid from his coat. Ignoring Conall, Ron looked directly at the other two men, Danton's eyes swelled to an unusual size, the only sign Albert showed was a calculating look that faded after a moment.

"I hope you weren't stupid enough to steal that from the Council." Albert said slowly, never taking his eyes away from the vial.

"Of course I wasn't," Ron said mildly though anger glinted in his eyes, "No I borrowed this from a young girl at Talis, and I might add the only child from a Wizard to New Wizard cross, she was young and didn't even realize what I was doing. Tal also was a bit off in telling about power levels, most of the town is adult or older teens, all with more capabilities than the average wizard."

"What else besides the blood did you find?" Danton asked clearly needing to be back in control.

"Well the population is around five hundred but we couldn't get a clear account, people kept showing up twice or children weren't around when we were counting. They were obviously under orders to keep us confused, so I'd say take or add one hundred to that. They were told to go about daily life exactly as usual but it was clear that they weren't, classes for instance were on such a level that a first year could have handled it."

"The Council obviously didn't care about that, all the idiots voted against us again. It looks like for the time being we're going to be trading information with them." Danton said with a sneer and Conall nodded along. 

Albert interrupted their outburst in a soft voice, "I have some friends who are geneticists, muggle I know, but they can take the blood and start the vaccine." He held out a hand, clearly indicating that Ron should give him the vial. 

It was a reluctant Ron who finally handed him the vial, giving such power away made him uneasy.

* * *

As he stood silently at the front gates of Hogwarts Ron couldn't help but contemplate what Hermione reaction to him would be. The Council had specifically forgot to inform her that Ron would be coming to inspect the students. In all likely hood she would be outraged at the deception, and insulted that they didn't trust her opinion. It had been decided that she wasn't impartial enough, to which Ron agreed with.

All the same he hoped they could actually get along with each other for once, it had been at least four years since they had a half pleasant conversation, maybe just maybe they could talk like civilized people for once.

* * *

As the saying goes when it rains it pours, in Hermione's opinion it didn't just rain it turned into a bloody hurricane. The day had started bad and wasn't getting any better.

She couldn't really say she had woken up on the wrong side of bed because she hadn't. She'd actually woken up as she hit the floor _after_ rolling off the wrong side of bed. At the time she had considered just going back to bed, but of course she didn't allow herself the luxury.

So she had gone to breakfast in a terrible mood, snapping at everyone. Nobody seemed to notice though, it seemed the whole Hogwarts population was also suffering from PMS, no matter that at least half were male.

As soon as the travesty that was breakfast ended she made her to her office. But if she was expecting peace and quiet it wasn't meant to be. When she opened the door she found an angry Draco stalking around her office. Noises that sounded suspiciously like growls were coming from his general area.

She figured she might as well give in, the day was obviously not going to get any better. So she sighed and asked wearily, "What's wrong Draco?"

He obviously hadn't heard her arrive she thought as he spun around in surprise, fear showing on his face for a moment before his usual mask slid into place. Then he began to growl words out so angrily that she nearly couldn't understand him, "Wrong? What could be wrong? My life is only falling apart and I might be going crazy but no nothings wrong! I can't sleep, because he's always in my head, digging through things he has no right to know and," he stopped talking and looked at her, a look of apprehension replacing his anger, "and I - I've been getting memories, or images I don't know, from him, Hermione it's not good."

"What's not good?" She questioned carefully, trying not to upset him further. Draco might get upset sometimes but she hadn't seen him like this for years.

He walked over, and grabbed her arm, his voice earnest, "He was like me, or maybe not, I don't know!" he dropped her arm and once again began pacing. "He was with Harry I saw it in his memories! What if he is a Death-Eater? I can't go back to that, no matter what people think I can't do that again!"

Hermione tried to reach out to him as he started to choke on his own words, but he pulled away, not wanting to be touched. And in that moment she could have surely killed Tal Wittman on the spot. 

Ever since the war ended Draco had been…fragile. He had been recruited into the Death-Eater ranks by his father and he had been proud of it at the time but the killing and maiming had finally began to take it's toll, there were other things but he wouldn't talk to her about that. Slipping away from Voldemort was a difficult thing for anyone but Draco had managed it, and come to Hogwarts, to Dumbledore asking for help. In the end it had been given on the terms that he become a double agent, there was nothing else he could do but say yes.

It was at that time the worst attacks came from Death-Eaters and Draco had a high rank. Just hearing about what he had done made Hermione sick but she had listened for his sake because she knew it didn't make him sick, it made him want to die.

It had taken years for him to accept what had happened and understand that he'd done the right thing when the choice presented itself. And now Tal was dragging it all to the surface again!

It had been three weeks since Draco and Tal's, incident. At first she didn't know what to think of the matter but then Draco had started acting strangely and Tal had brought that Kirish woman to Hogwarts. Hermione had point blank asked Tal what was going on and why he needed the extra help, he'd just given her muddled answers never stating anything clearly. So for the past few weeks she'd had been watching Draco slowly becoming a person she didn't know. She was going to give Tal a large piece of her mind but first she had to get Draco under control.

Hemione moved towards him, determination clear on her face, she gently took his hand in her own, ignoring him as he flinched and tried to pull away. She began to run her thumb over his palm in soothing circles, then choosing her words with care, "I would never let them have you again. And I don't care what anyone thought or still thinks, I know and you know that what you did wasn't you. It was someone you had to pretend to be, you saved hundreds of people. You aren't a Death-Eater, you weren't meant to be a Death-Eater. Granted at times you were an annoying snobbish prat," Draco let out a strangled laugh and Hermione began to feel a small amount of relief, "but you did what a lot of people never do, you grew up. You didn't let someone change you into something you weren't, you fought back! And even if you won't believe yourself, you had better believe me, that person wasn't you." She could barely see his sad smile through the tears in her eyes, not even thinking about it she threw her arms around him, holding him as if he would break, "And Draco I could never love a Death-Eater."

"Well isn't this just bloody fucking sweet!"

Startled Hermione and Draco broke apart to see an livid Ron standing in the doorway, an unidentifiable expression in his eyes.

"R - Ron what are you doing here?" Hermione stuttered, shaken by his abrupt entrance.

"Surprise visit!" fe growled out, starting to advance on them, "Lucky me!"

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Draco paling as Ron moved towards them.

"It's to bad I didn't know you had a thing for Death-Eaters," Ron said spitefully, now face to face with her, "maybe I could have taken the dark mark with Harry." His hand snaked out grabbing her arm, as she stood there in shock, "You should have told me sooner you liked it rough! Maybe we could have had a three-some," turning to look at Draco he pointedly added, "or a four-some, that would have been some fuck! Maybe we could have formed our own club."

At his last words Hermione began struggling frantically, trying to break out of his grasp, but only succeeded in hitting the wall painfully as Ron suddenly let go. As she lay there stunned she could see Draco backed into the far wall, fear and anger showing clearly on his face.

Hermione desperately started trying to stand as Ron grabbed Draco around the neck and began slamming him back into the wall. But as she finally reached her feet, a black oblivion overcame her and she once again fell to the floor.

* * *

It was awe inspiring, he could feel the soft flesh clenched beneath his hands, slowly giving way to his unrelenting anger. Muscles bunching , retracting, his hands never let go, only pushing harder.

Feeble hands helplessly clutching at his face and wrists, trying to break his powerful grip.

"It doesn't matter though," voices gloated in his head, "we're strong, he'll never beat us!" A small quiet voice tried to make itself known among the others, only to be pushed to the back as Ron continued on with his rage.

The dull thumps, of flesh hitting hard surface, was beginning to create a soothing rhythm in his ears, and finally the annoying hands were leaving him be. The world around had faded into nothing, the only thing left was this small moment in time. "But it's not," said that same small voice in his thoughts, finally able to make itself clear, "it's not right."

No matter how the rhythm or flesh called the voice couldn't be ignored this time, it was as if he was slowing waking up from a deep sleep. The voice kept talking, offering advice, telling him to quit, to shut out the other words. He couldn't understand though, everything was moving to slowly, his sight was clouded by red, he couldn't see, he couldn't move, OH GOD!

Suddenly he was staring into silver eyes clouded with pain, the pupils dilated and starting to roll up. The body the eyes belonged to kept moving in front of him, to and fro, and when he looked down he found his hands clutching the man's throat. Blood was dripping down splattering onto his hands, leavings red stains. In absolute horror he tried to let go, to drop the body from him but he couldn't, they wouldn't let him! "PLEASE!" Hot red blood splashed into his screaming mouth, bitter and metallic, he was gagging trying to throw up but even that was beyond his control.

Desperately he tried to do anything to end the torment but nothing worked, it would last forever. Without realizing he had begun to scream incoherent words, tearing streaming down his face, leaving clean tracks on his bloodied face. It was everywhere, blood, gore he tried to close his eyes but he wasn't allowed to escape the agony before him. 

But then it did, painfully rough hands were suddenly on him, dragging him away, letting the body fall to the floor. He abruptly hit a wall, pain began to clouded his already limited perception. The voices still shouted, screaming in rage now, but another sound, voice? Was overpowering his hearing, murmurs, growls, he tried to concentrate but he felt himself slipping away into the dark. He didn't fight it, he wanted out and just as everything was completely faded he felt himself once again jerked to his feet. His eyes felt clammy and sticky but he forced them open, no silver pained eyes now, blue and green murderous eyes now. Punishment? YES! 

He leaned forward wanting the pain, needing the pain, crazed laughter left his mouth and the man before him became hesitant, almost letting his grip slide. "Ron you crazy bastard what the hell were you doing? RON!"

The man kept questioning him, anger evident in his voice, as every word came to his hearing they began to make more and more sense. The voices were slowly fading away, still angry but becoming quiet.

"Look!" The man said harshly and spun him around until he was facing the bloody body once again. He tried to turn away but the man wouldn't allow it. As they watched the silver eyes closed and the body became limp but still breathing. The man beside him was almost frantic but it didn't register because suddenly the voices, the murderous rage were completely gone and his body once again was his own. Sense of time and memories was back again and he knew who he was, he knew who they were.

Ron turned suddenly trying to find Hermione, when he did he felt his heart jump. She was slumped beside a wall, she was tangled in awkward angles but looked to be unharmed, one hand was clutching in the air sporadically. Nothing else mattered except getting to her, but as soon as he took a step he was stop by a still very upset Tal. As he looked into the other man's eyes he said all that he could, "I'm sorry."

Moments after he realized it was the wrong thing to say, Tal's arm was drawing back to hit him and his fist had almost made impact when a small hand stopped it mid-motion. Ron's held breath came out in a hiss, he could feel his hands shaking, he turned his eyes to the person who had momentarily saved him. And he got yet another surprise, the person of quick reflexes was none other than Kirish Ling. 

He'd met her in Talis and had taken an immediate dislike of her, she was bossy, arrogant, nosy and very intelligent. Of all the places he would have thought to see her Hogwarts was not one of them but for the moment he was quite glad that she was.

She turned from his gaze and started giving instructions in a calm collected voice, "Tal I'll take care of him, the nurse is on her way, help her." She turned back to Ron once again, grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him out of the room. 

Ron stood stock still, not allowing her to pull him away, "I'm staying, I have to be with Hermione." 

Kirish look at him a moment, not completely unsympathetic, "You can't Tal would end up killing you and to be completely honest Hermione probably isn't going to want you to be the first thing she sees." 

Taking advantage of Ron's shock she successfully pulled him from the room, he was walking down the deserted hall before sense finally returned to his tangled thoughts.

* * *

Some might say that staring at a wall continually for three hours would be depressing, if not crazy. But to Hermione it wasn't, she only found it to be very relaxing. And at this moment she needed that more than anything, three days had passed since Ron's maniac like rage, and she was still trying to come to terms with it. People kept trying to talk to her about it, so she had escaped to the only place she could feel alone.

She'd come across this particular wall in her second year as Headmistress, it was right down from the main hall in a hidden alcove. It was an odd wall, no matter how dark the castle became the wall always seemed to sparkle, to have a life of its own and it never changed.

She wished it was the same with people, but it wasn't. They would always seem so nice and pleasant and then when you least expected it they blew up in your face, spewing madness, tainting everything. She only wished they could be like her wall, never changing.

And while she like her wall she did have to admit there was one thing wrong with staring at a wall for long periods of time. It allowed you to distant yourself from your surroundings but that only left a bigger area of your thoughts to be occupied by the past. Past was something she didn't want to dwell on but neither did she wish to think about her life, which had somehow become so…distressingly lonely.

* * *

As usual Hermione was sitting at a study table in the Gryffindor common room, studying, and of course as usual Ron and Harry were discussing Quidditch, both laying on a rug with merry crackling fire casting light upon their animated faces.

Hermione couldn't believe they wouldn't going to study at all, it was an important year after all and surprise tests always seemed to pop up. She had hoped they would have matured slightly, they were sixteen now, surely they realized Quidditch wouldn't get them through life. Something would have to knock them off their feet before they realized it of course. As she looked over at the two boys she silently promised herself that from now on she wouldn't give them copies of her notes, no matter how they begged and pleaded, for once they would just have to fail, on both counts.

Ron must have somehow known where her train of thought was because he suddenly looked up at her with a teasing look in his eyes, "Hermione you know no matter how many times you read the same book the words don't change…well they usually don't." He ended with a slight grimace, even after all these years he still hated to study.

Harry wasn't helping either, snickering behind his hand like that, he knew it goaded Ron on.

"Ron you know how important it is to be studying! There are going to be a lot of tests and -" 

She was cut off as Ron finish her sentence for her in a mocking voice. "and you want to get good scores and blah blah blah!" At that point he and Harry both broke into wild laughter, clutching their sides.

Hermione was a tad bit irritated with their lack of respect, "Fine laugh now but tomorrow or the next day when we have a surprise test and you fail spectacularly don't come crying to me! I'll be going onto the next year while you two however, are spending an extra year with Snape!" She finished, smirking in triumph at the now quiet boys.

Trepidation took it place however when the two boys shot each other devious looks and came to stand by her. She knew what was going to happen and resolutely steeled herself against the inevitable outcome. 

But then Harry was kneeling down beside her with that look of his, where you could swear that there was a little sad beat puppy looking at you instead of a wild-haired youth. She was handling it though and everything would have fine except Ron chose that same moment to loop his arms around her shoulders, 

"Mione you love use don't you? You wouldn't leave use would you? Just imagine what that greasy bastard would put us through!"

Then Harry finished her off for good, "Your our best friend, we'd do anything for you. Absolutely anything!"

She couldn't make it look like she was completely defeated though, she had to at least make an effort to get them studying. "You two," waving a finger at the two grinning boys, "can copy my notes if and I repeat if you read Hogwarts: A History!" The two boys snorted in amusement, and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped.

The next morning as she sat down opposite of the two boys she handed them both several sheets of parchment, covered with neat precise notes, complete with references of course. 

* * *

Hermione gave a choked sob as she slid to the floor, her forehead resting on the wall. It was amazing that they had ever been so young and innocent, never realizing how their lives were going to change forever.

She never thought Ron would be where he was, she especially never thought she'd be sitting in the dark reliving her happiest moment in life, and therefore her saddest to.

Life certainly had a perverse direction.

* * *

She and Ron were laying side by side on a quilted blanket by the shores of the Hogwarts' lake. The stars were shining brightly on them, they seemed to wink as if they were sharing a secret.

Usually students weren't allowed out past curfew but Ron had surprised Hermione by going to Dumbledore for special permission. She had been astonished when Ron had told her, it was so sweet of him to try and make it special for her.

Tonight was the anniversary of their first official date, six months ago Ron had finally worked the nerve up to ask her and she had accepted, asking why it had taken him so long.

And here they were tonight, she was sure besides this being a celebration, that Ron was trying to make a perfect situation for them to make love together for the first time. If it was anybody else she wouldn't even consider it, but this was Ron, someone she had already given her heart to and tonight she would also give him her innocence.

While she was lost in thought Ron's hand had crept to her side, rubbing little designs on her skin, she turned to look at him and he pulled her close into her arms, so that they lay tangled together.

After a few moments he started talking in a uncharacteristically hesitant voice, "Hermione this is something I've wanted to do for years, it feels like we've known each other forever, always getting in trouble together, just hanging around, and I - I just -" 

He was stopped as Hermione put a finger to his lips silencing him. "Ron I know. I feel the same way, you're the only one I want and I'm ready, so don't worry." 

He looked at her for a long moment, the stars reflecting in his eyes, then he moved his lips to cover hers, giving her a soft promise filled kiss. "Mione you're the only I want to but that's not quite the reason I brought you here tonight. I've wanted to tell you something for a long time, even before I asked you out, but I was to scared." He stopped and looked at her, "I love you, I've loved you for a long time. You're the other half of my heart and I never want us to be apart." 

Then he began to softly kiss away the tears that fell happily from her eyes.

* * *

By this time the sobs had fully taken her over, she sat slumped on the cold hard floor, with her knees hugged to her chest as sobs racked her frame. When someone's heart is breaking they don't bother with small things like time so when the tears finally ceased she wasn't sure how long she had been huddled on the floor, minutes or hours. Dejectedly she swept her hands over her hair, which was escaping the elaborate braid that had attempt to hold it. Her eyes felt gritty and tired and she knew they were bloodshot. 

She looked up at the wall once again and saw two shadows instead of her lone one. She stood up slowly trying to prepare herself, hoping with all she had left that it wasn't Ron.

And while Tal wasn't the person she would have picked to find her in such a disarrayed state there could have been worse people. She knew there was no way to hide the after effects of her tears, she just stood and ignored the fact that for the past hours she'd been an emotional wreck. "What can I do for you?"

He just looked at her and for a second she could swear she saw some strange emotion pass of his feature and then fade away, "Kirish and I need to talk with you and Draco, believe me I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important."

She nodded her agreement, then in a still voice, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention finding me like this, some people would use it against me."

It was his eyes she realized, suddenly, that looked so strange a moment before, they were darken with sadness, changing their color. She wondered what could bring such a strong feeling to a person as reserved as Tal, surely it wasn't her?

"Hermione you secrets will always be safe with me."

Their walk down the long corridors was silent but strangely companionable. Reaching the door of Tal's classroom they found it already open, when she walked in she saw that Draco and Kirish were already inside, sitting on opposite sides of the room. 

Kirish was studying Draco with an intense look in her eyes, looking over at Draco Hermione saw that he was trying to ignore the stare. He hated to be stared at.

Hermione decided to take a neutral spot and chose a seat by the door, while Tal went and sat on his desk.

There was a moment of long silence before Tal started his explanation, speaking calmly, "After discussing some things, Kirish and I believe that it wasn't Ron alone who caused the situation." He stopped speaking, took a deep breath.

Hermione was aching to ask what he meant but Tal only spoke when he wanted to, if she wasn't quiet she might never get the reason behind his words. 

Strangely enough it wasn't Tal who gave the reasoning, it was Kirish. The woman never moved her eyes from Draco as she talked, "There's a girl in Talis named Lillis, she's an emapth. She always knows exactly what people around her are feeling, she knows precisely how to manipulate people. But I think Draco is the exact opposite, he doesn't feel other's emotions, he _affects_ other people's emotions. I talked with Ron afterwards, well actually I looked around his thoughts, and his memories don't mesh with what he did. I think Draco was broadcasting something, Hermione has some telepathic ability and it overwhelmed her, that's why she blacked out."

If Hermione hadn't been lost in her own turmoil she would have seen how pale Draco was, and how worse it got with Kirish's last words. "What were you remembering Draco?"

Hermione knew exactly what Draco had been remembering and if Kirish was right it made complete sense. She also knew that while Tal could wait as long as needed for Draco's answer he would probably never give in. She hated to force Draco to talk about such things but she desperately needed to know whether Tal and Kirish were right, it would mean so much. "Draco as Headmistress I would advise you to answer the question."

He turned burning silver eyes to her, filled with such betrayal that she realized he was lost to her forever. She had just done what she had promised to never do, left him alone. For once though she had to do something for herself. So she held his gaze, eyes never wavering, he finally answered in stinging defeated words, "The Death-Eater attack on Hogsmeade."

Hermione didn't wait a moment longer, she made her way to the door before she could talk herself out of it, hesitating for a moment in the doorway, "I have to see Ron." Then she was gone.

* * *

"Oh God!" he screamed aloud as the hot wet mouth closed around his cock again. Sucking, licking bringing him to edge then pulling away, prolonging the exquisite torment. 

His hands were clenched in the bed sheets, his nails had already created bloody spots on his own palms. He groaned as the talented mouth moved to his balls, nipping lightly with teeth all the while hands stroked his hips, holding his thrusts down, he nearly came from their motion alone.

Thankfully his cock was once again being deliberately sucked, the head nipped and the hands let him loose, finally giving him control. His hands let the bed sheets to grip the soft head of hair at his groin, his cock was taken deep and he began to thrust into the mouth, so lost in the sensation that he couldn't give warning of his coming. 

Giving a deep groan Ron fell back onto the bed exhausted and sated, eyes already closing, the person below him gave a small laugh full of tantalizing promises. His hands pulled the talented lover onto his chest, covering the mouth with his own, a deep kiss, tongues battling. "Gods, I love you," Ron breathed out, opening his eyes to see her reaction he found himself looked into black rotten holes where eyes once rested, a black crusty tongue snaked out to lick a stray drop of cum from blood coated lips. 

"Missed me huh?" a terrible sibilant voice said.

Ron screamed aloud in terror as he was faced with a long dead Harry Potter, he tried to throw the body from him but skeleton hands still gripped his hips. 

"Oh you want another go!" Sick demented laughter echoed in the room.

Using all his strength Ron threw Harry from his bed but in his haste he slipped on the covers and fell hitting his head on the cold floor.

Only to awake alone in his bed, sweat and cum sticking to the sheets, moisture beaded on his body, shaking badly he tried to untangle himself from the covers only succeeding in making it worse. He fell back for a moment, forced his body to breath and calm, then slowly slipped out of the ruined bed. 

He began pacing the room, the smell of sex making his stomach roil, he opened a window and immediately felt better. Tearing his clothes off he threw the onto the floor, dragged clean unsoiled ones out of the trunk. As he pulled the shirt over his head something hit him in the back.

Ron spun around ready for battle, he found his adversary to be none other than a small brown owl. Bending down he unfastened the message from the owl's leg and it instantly went back out the window from whence it came.

Only a few people would be sending him owls at this time of night, he found his hands to be shaky as he unrolled the parchment.

It Has Begun.

For the third time of the night Ron had a fright as someone knocked loudly on the door. He was going to ignore it until he heard a voice that he could never forget, Hermione. "Ron I need to speak with you." 

  



	6. Fighting One's Self

Chapter Five

Fighting One's Self

Of all the people who had ever left or turned away from him this was the one person that he had come to never expect it of, someone who had over the years become an anchor, a light that never faded. Of course that was a foolish sentiment, after all hadn't they once been antagonists even if not clearly enemies? Even though his mind kept supplying him with such good common rational sense, Draco still couldn't get his heart to behave properly, it was still breaking bit by bit, demanding action on his part. And he had, doing the only thing he knew how, something he had been forced to learn through great pain, he had dismissed her from his life, or was at least attempting to. 

Because Hermione was once again displaying the traits that had enabled her to endure, to survive every pain that life had given her, she was once again resorting to her extremely strong willpower. Over the last few days he had made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing else to do with her, so instead she had made him come here and talk to her, with her influence as Headmistress hanging over his head.

At first she had tried to talk to him sensibly, not quite apologizing but giving the idea that she was. As if he would have ever fallen for that, the only response he had given her was a stony stare, not even uttering a word. She had quickly gotten the idea. So now she was sitting at her desk looking up at him, he had refused to sit after all he wasn't planning on staying long, actually she was actually having the gall to tell him that she_ insisted that _he work with Tal on his…talent.

As if she had the right to insist he do anything, before maybe but defiantly not now. She had known exactly what she was doing when she forced him to answer Tal's questions. Then she had run off, to a man who irrevocably hurt her every time he saw her, leaving him in the hands of two near total strangers, one of which was already invading his life. No other options had been left to him, he had to tell them, not everything just enough to appease them. That didn't matter though because they still knew something that he had never wanted anyone else to know, he wished that he didn't know it about himself. 

And damn her if she wasn't silently staring at him as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, she probably did, with all the late night talks they had together, she knew more about him then anyone alive. Which was exactly why what she had done hurt so badly. He couldn't deal with that again…ever.

Yes, he would work with Tal, not because she wanted him to though but because he didn't want something like this to control him. Yesterday he'd gone to Tal personally and not quite asked, more like demanded, that he teach him how to control the new abilities. He'd agree with her on this and let her think what ever the hell she wanted to about it because he wasn't going to talk to her any more than necessary, however childish it may seem.

He gave her a small nod, knowing she would understand what he was agreeing to. It was amazing how such a small gesture could be an acknowledgement of such a great concession for a person.

As he got up and walk away from the office he couldn't help think how his life was turning upside down. He was losing a friend, he was sharing dreams with a person he hardly knew, he was…well in his opinion he was finally losing his mind. Years ago, even days ago he would never have gone to anyone and asked for anything but now he had and somehow he knew it was going to royally screw him up.

* * *

"Look I know you think I should learn to control this…this magic, so I'll agree to meet with you whenever I'm free. But! I want to make this completely clear I'm only agreeing to this because the Headmistress demanded." And it would be a cold day in hell before Draco admitted to Tal that Hermione hadn't actually told him to do anything, but he didn't want Tal to think he had come willingly, the man was already overbearing as it was.

Draco felt a pull, a presence and then Tal was staring at him like he wasn't quite sure what to think of the request. Draco knew he should complain about Tal using his talent on him but right now he needed to stay on Tal's good side, after he knew what he needed then he could show Tal exactly how comforting it was to have some rummaging around your thoughts.

It was getting to be a bit unnerving having Tal just stare at him, Draco absolutely hated to be the focus of attention. That was something he had gotten over a long time ago.

"Well?" Draco finally asked in an even unrevealing tone, breaking the peculiar silence that surrounded them.

Tal's eyes traveled over his face, stepping closer until he was within arm's reach, Draco's hands itched to push him away but he held the impulse at bay, just barely though.

"Okay Draco I'll play," Tal finally said, "when can you be here?"

"Everyday, after seven." There was a hint of relief in his voice, which bothered him, he could usually control his emotions better, he hoped Tal had missed it. 

He apparently had because there was no sign of amusement, or any other emotion, in his voice when he answered, "Okay, everyday at seven-thirty, that gives us both time to calm done from classes. Let's not set a time limit, just whatever."

"Fine." Now that the conversation was over Draco wanted to get out of the room as quick as possible and oddly enough Tal didn't seem to be finding a reason to prolong his suffering.

Draco didn't want it to seem like he was running away but as every second passed by he became more and more uneasy, he jumped when Tal's hand touch his shoulder and Draco quickly pulled away. 

Tal just kept on staring but thankfully he also gave him a way out, "I'm going to the Main Hall now, we can start working tomorrow." He then walked out leaving a genuinely confused Draco alone in the room.

* * *

Even just remembering the conversation left him with an odd sour feeling in the pit of his stomach, he hoped he managed to get over it by tonight. If his stomach was any indication he was going to need his wits about him.

* * *

Tal awoke feeling surprisingly pleasant, last night obviously had a positive affect on Draco, even if it had taken considerable effort on Tal's part. No dreams seemed to have inhibited Draco's sleep and therefore Tal had also had a good night's rest, the first he hoped in many.

Normally he would have just tried to cut the link off, but that didn't seem to be a possibility for Draco and himself, it was always there no matter how they ignored it. There was no compulsion, it was just a very hyped up sensitive link. But if Draco kept learning technique this quickly Tal wouldn't need to bother trying to find a way to shut it off.

Tal couldn't help but wonder if the war would have gone differently if people had been able to have an advantage such as this type of link could have been. But then that was long gone, he couldn't change the outcome now, even if he could he might not, every part of his life had been changed due to it. Some good and some bad but nonetheless it was his life, one that he had created for himself and besides if he hadn't gone to America he would have never gotten Lillis, and she was defiantly one of a kind.

He smiled softly to himself, quietly dressed and made his way to breakfast. Musing over last night's success, and reminding himself to talk to Kirish about what else they should try and teach Draco.

* * *

"Does she have to be here?" 

Tal gritted his teeth, ignoring Draco's irritating question. Kirish was staying whether Draco wanted her here or not. He was definitely not going to have any thing like last time happening again. If either of them got in to deep Kirish could pull them out. "Pay attention, you won't ever learn if you don't shut up long enough to listen."

Draco just continued to glare at Kirish belligerently, holding his aristocratic nose up so that he could look down at her. He didn't seem to have heard Tal instructions.

Tal drop his head into his hands, tapping his forehead with his fingers, it was turning out to be a long night. Kirirsh was taking sadistic pleasure in irritating Draco, who was in turn acting like his old school self. Which would probably have been considered a good thing, except it was driving Tal batty.

"Draco." No answer. "Draco!" Still no answer. "DRACO!" Well finally! "If it's not to much maybe you two could quit glaring at each other long enough for us to get this over with?"

"I wasn't doing anything." Kirish said deliberately trying to bait Draco, who gave her his once trademark sneer. 

"It's amazing," Tal thought to himself, "even as a different person my mere presence seems to bring out Draco's worst manners." He wondered if the other man realized it. Tal decided to ignore their antics and hope they ended them fairly soon, he started giving Draco instructions once again. The blonde wasn't really paying close attention, Tal hoped he was hearing enough that they wouldn't end up dead.

About fifteen minutes later Draco proved he had been paying attention, enough at least to successfully manipulate the link between them. It was startling that he could learn control so quickly, it made one wonder exactly what they could get out of the mishap.

"Why do I have to go to all that trouble? From what you said I thought it was always there?" Draco asked after ending the exercise.

"There's a difference." Kirish said haughtily, speaking before Tal could give an explanation.

"Kirish." Tal warned, telling her with his eyes to act nicer. "It's not so much always open as it is there, a lot of the time emotions are getting passed between the two of us but that's just because you don't have quite enough control yet. For my part I can keep the link calm but it's very hard to do with you unconsciously using it. That's why I had you meditate before we started, it gave you enough control that the link was closed, but still there."

Draco looked confused and Tal tried to figure out how to explain. 

Kirish apparently decided to take it into her own hands. "Normally, like when Tal and I talk we have to make a new connection, or link, every time but with you and Tal one is there all the time, it never actually closes off, as it would for me. But while it's always there, that doesn't mean it's easy to work. Every person has a signature that their thought patterns create, as you learn more signatures will become easier to recognize. Tal knows yours already so he can control what he lets through the link, you on the other hand don't know your own signature much less Tal's. That's why your control is sporadic at best. What you were just doing teaching you to locate and connect to a certain signature, or person. Physical contact helps," she laughed at Draco look of distaste, "but we didn't think you'd go for that, so your doing this exercise instead."

Draco nodded his understanding and Tal couldn't help but to be a little jealous that Kirish had helped more than he had.

* * *

He nodded to himself as he remembered how well the lesson had ended. Draco had found his own signature and Tal's before the night had ended. It was a pleasant surprise, even if Draco hadn't been able to get Kirish's. But Tal wondered if she hadn't been blocking him somehow, it would be like her to do that. He'd have to talk to her about that also he decided.

Tal stumbled and fell flat on his back as a warm body ran into him, and landed on top of him, knocking his breath out. He lay gasping as the body on top of him squirm around.

"Oh! Professor Wittman I'm sooo sorry! Really I am! I forgot my potions book and I was trying to hurry and get back before breakfast ended."

"This would be easier if you could get off me." Tal managed to choke out and thankfully the girl did. But in doing so she managed to grab parts of him that caused him to jump quickly to his feet, the girl didn't look at all embarrassed or repentant. He wondered if she had actually been getting a potions book. "You look familiar but I can't seem to recall your name."

"I'm Cheryl Jamis, my younger sister is in one of your classes." Ah so that's why she looked so familiar. The girl continued on, looking up at him coyly through lowered lashes, "She's only a fifth year but I'm a seventh year." 

Oh, he could guess why she said that, as if he would go for a student no matter the age, he didn't even get involved with adults he taught, well not usually. "Is that so." he said pleasantly. 

She looked at him, tilting her head and grinned suddenly, "Didn't work huh?"

"Nope."

"Well damn, maybe next time." She said in mock resignation, walking off. 

Tal stood a moment shaking with silent laughter, a lot of women, and men, had propositioned him but never like that!

He'd have to give Kirish her money, he'd figured it would be another week before they started to physically chase him down.

Walking into the hall he plopped down beside Kirish, and handed her a wad of money. 

She grinned at him, "So who was it?" He pointed the girl out to her and she laughed softly, "Her? She looks kinda shy!" She laughed even harder at Tal's expression, which clearly stated that the girl was in no way shy.

They ignored the strange looks the rest of the staff gave them.

* * *

For the first time ever Draco was glad that Tal was in the same room as him. If he wasn't Draco might have done something deliciously fun to the weasel. 

The Auror had been at Hogwarts for nearly two weeks now, when he had finally told Hermione why he was at Hogwarts she had been very…upset. But then of course they had been all chummy again, Draco still couldn't believe she was talking to the man, even if it really hadn't been Ron who had attacked them. The man had still hurt Hermione worse than anyone else ever had and she seemed to be deliberately forgetting it. It would all end up bad and then where would she be? But that didn't matter because he didn't care anymore.

And since he wasn't talking to Hermione anymore he couldn't go and complain about Ron observing his classes. Draco was sure the Auror was including him in his little report to the Council and he'd be damned if he gave Ron an excuse to get him fired. And unfortunately he kept getting mad and affecting everyone around him, it wasn't enough that Ron had noticed but Draco was still nervous.

Nervous enough in fact that he had once again asked Tal for help. He couldn't believe he was slipping so badly as to ask someone he didn't even like for help. But he was intelligent enough to know that without Tal's calming influence he was eventually going to blow up in class and knowing Weasley he'd go right to the Council about it.

So there was Tal, standing at the opposite side of the room as Ron, he never took his gaze away from Draco but he did it in such a way that nobody noticed. Which Draco was extremely thankful for, he didn't need a bunch of hormonal griping little gossips going around making up stories about his personal life.

"Incorrect!" he hissed as his students once again failed to an correctly, he still couldn't believe how stupid Gryffindors were. "If any of you cretins had taken the time to actually go over your books you would have known that a Chimaera has a lion's head, goat's body and a _dragon's_ tail. Not a rat tail!"

_"Tut tut taking your anger out on the students. Would you do the same to the Slytherins?"_

Just what he didn't need an amused sarcastic Wittman. _"Get out of my head! I may have to endure your presence everyday for hours at a time but it doesn't mean you can crawl into my head whenever you please."_ Then he switched the link off, proud of himself for being able to do so. Across the room he saw Tal smirking at him but ignored him as he went back to berating the exceptionally dense Gryffindors.

After what seemed like hours the class ended and the stupid dolts ran out of the room as fast as possible. And gladly this would be the last class that Ron was going to be observing, he was leaving in two days, which Draco was quite thrilled about.

He'd be even more thrilled if Tal would haul ass out of his classroom, he might have needed the man here to stay momentarily sane but that didn't mean he actually enjoyed his company. It was his own bad luck that he seemed to always seemed to be in the same vicinity as Tal. But of course since he didn't want the man here any longer he would stay and probably talk, just to annoying him.

"Well that went well, you didn't let to much anger escape."

"I can take care of my self thank you very much, not matter what you may think," he sneered,, not bothering to look at Tal.

"Oh is that so? Hmm then why am I here? Because you can take care of yourself?" 

Bloody hell, he hated the man, always digging away never giving him a moments peace. And Draco wasn't about to admit that having Tal around seemed to keep him calm, at first he had thought he was going crazy, but after working with Tal for more than a week he had to admit, if only to himself, that being near the man soothed him. 

Around Tal he didn't feel so tired and dead, without even knowing it he would unconsciously act like his old self. It felt good to know he could be himself and no Aurors or Death-Eaters were going to jump out of the walls and kill him. Around people it had become habit to be another person, to put a mask up, become someone people could feel more in common with. It had saved his life on more than once occasion. Now he just had to figure out why he could never seem to get the act right around Tal.

"You're here because you're here, it wasn't my decision, you chose to come."

"Oh yes I always choose to come." Tal said in a sugar coated voice. 

Draco looked up to see Tal staring at him in a suggestive way, and Draco damned himself for even giving the man a reason to say such a thing. Because he really, really didn't need to hear that.

"It is absolutely amazing," Draco said coolly, "that you ever manage to get any work done. I'm sure your always occupied or so it seems from those memories I got."

Before his very eyes Draco saw something incredible, Tal Wittman backing down from an argument. His face had first flushed then gone nearly white, then he abruptly turned and walked out of the room. Leaving Draco to wonder if he could ever get that response again, because he truly enjoyed witnessing it.

* * *

As Tal hurried through the student filled halls, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive of Draco's carefully spoken words. Either Draco was trying to figure out who he was or he already knew something. From now on he would have to be careful around the blonde man, as of late he had been more relaxed, letting some barriers down. He actually like how they sniped at one another, he found it amusing and relaxing. 

His body stiffened as students took advantage of the crowed halls and landed stray touches on him. Normally he might have found it funny but right now he didn't feel like playing games with uncouth children.

* * *

When Draco arrived for his session with Tal he was still working out what had caused Tal's earlier discomfort. It couldn't have been the implication that he slept around because Tal himself made such insinuations all the time, so it must have had something to do with the thought that Draco had some of Tal's memories.

And Draco wasn't a Slytherin for nothing, no matter how he might have changed, he still had a naturally devious nature. That nature supplied the answer to his problem. As soon as Tal told him Kirish wasn't going to be there a plan formed itself in his mind.

"I'm sure we can manage not to kill one another without her, we are both after all adults." Oh he definitely wasn't going to kill anyone but he was going to find out exactly who the man standing before him was. Tal knew to much, he must have either been a student or a Death-Eater, either way it would explain why Draco found him so bloody familiar at times.

The session proceeded as usual, though Draco could tell Tal was distracted, on edge, he seemed to be hiding almost. But that was fine, it would make his plan work better.

"You ready?" Tal asked quietly from across the room, which was as close as he had gotten since Draco walked in.

"I'm ready, you can begin." 

Across the room Tal closed his eyes, concentrating. It was always odd for Draco to see him like that.

As soon as he felt the push against his mind he opened his side of the link, but before Tal could join on his side Draco pushed through the link until he was firmly planted in Tal's mind. He could feel the resistance and effort Tal was making to push him away but Tal had also been the one teaching him, Draco knew how his mind worked.

_"What the hell are you doing Draco?" _Tal demanded harshly.

_"Nothing you haven't done to me."_

"I have never broken into your thought!" 

"Is that so?" Draco sent back caustically, and began searching Tal's memories trying to find who the man really was.

Tal's mind was a mess though and Draco had no idea where or what he was supposed to be looking for. He picked things at random, some were no help at all, but others were quite helpful. In some he saw himself, or the weasel, Dumbledore giving his usual welcoming speech, sitting with the sorting hat on his head telling him he would make a good Slytherin, Snape teaching potions. Then the string ended abruptly much to Draco's dismay, he searched but couldn't find them again.

He knew he had to hurry, he could feel how pissed Tal was. Then he found something interesting, a full memory and he was pulled into it before he knew what was happening.

* * *

Beautiful emerald eyes, slanted slightly upwards, literally glowed out from a radiant face, a mass of fiery red hair curled around the face, wind blew and strands cover the eyes. Creating a beautiful contrasts of color.

The woman held out a delicate hand, reaching towards him, "I love you, no matter where I am that will never change."

Draco could feel the intense overwhelming emotions that the words brought with them. Pain, love, sadness, acceptance.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a head of white blonde hair but then the soft hand was resting on his cheeks, distracting him. And he was staring directly into the emerald eyes, which were so clear he could see his own reflection. And he looked closer trying --

* * *

"Well that was interesting," Tal said in a voice so devoid of emotion that Draco wondered if he had finally pushed the man to far. "You know not everyone can do that and then usually only after a lot of conditioning." Tal continued conversationally, "I didn't realize your control was at such a high level already. You must have been practicing."

Draco nodded mutely, not quite sure if he should say anything aloud or not.

"I really should kill you." Tal said still calmly, and Draco's nerves jumped, "But I'm not going to, it would be a waste. If I were you though I'd never try that trick again, you might not find the results pleasant."

Draco nodded again, as Tal walked to his side and squatted down. Looking directly into his eyes Draco saw he wasn't really as calm as he acted.

"I've got an idea Draco." And the latter couldn't help but hold his breath waiting for the inevitable. "You don't trust me that's painfully obvious, and we won't work well together if you can't. So I'm going to let you ask me any questions you want but in exchange you have to sit down and listen to me. What do you think?"

Draco licked his dry lips, "What's the catch?"

"No catch. Yes or no?"

Draco considered it, on one hand he would finally figure out exactly who Tal was but on the other hand something just felt…off. All Tal had asked for was for Draco to listen to him, there had to be a trap somewhere in those words. In the end Draco's curiosity won out. "Yes."

"Good choice." Tal said dryly. "Now lets open the link, that way you can know I'm not lying. But I think we'll meet in the middle this time."

They settled into comfortable positions facing one another, and then they reached towards each other mentally, snapping their shared link into life.

Tal nodded for Draco to start. Draco didn't answer for a moment as he formulated the questions he wanted answered.

"Who are you really?"

"Talon Wittman."

"I thought you were going to answer my questions?" Draco said irritably. 

"I never said I had to answer in depth."

"So there is a catch."

"No, but we can quit whenever you wish."

Draco glared into the blue eyes, which looked into his so mildly. It aggravated Draco greatly for Tal to know that Draco would continue the questions no matter what restrictions existed. 

"Fine but your an asshole. You were obviously a student here. Slytherin?"

"That's what the hat said isn't it?"

Draco ground his teeth together, "Were you a Death-Eater?"

"I wouldn't have been willingly."

Draco breathed deeply then let it out with a hiss, he knew Tal was being as unclear as possible. "During the war whose side were you on?"

"My own."

"Were you there when Voldemort was defeated?"

"Yes."

"What part did you play?"

There was a long pause and Draco silently waited in anticipation.

"One that nobody would care to know about."

Once again Draco found himself grinding his teeth in frustration. "During school were we ever friends."

"There were many people that I once considered friends."

"Answer the damned question!"

Tal showed the first sign of emotion as he smirked at Draco, "No we weren't."

"Was the ministry aware of your Death-Eater status?"

"They thought they were."

"And yet you're here?"

"Aren't you?" Tal asked softly. "One more question Draco."

"I thought I could continue as long as I liked?"

"I changed my mind, there were no rules saying I couldn't"

If anything convinced Draco that Tal had been a slytherin it was that. "Who was the woman in your memory?"

"Ah hah!" Draco thought. 

Tal's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, but he still answered. "Lillis, someone who matters more to me than life." Then he stood and looked down at Draco before walking away, "I'm done and by the way I'm going to have Kirish work with you on locating memories, she's quite good at it."

"Wittman!" Draco shouted towards Tal's retreating back, "You said I had to listen."

Tal slowly pivoted around until he faced Draco, tilting his head sideways a cunning smile on his lips, "I never said when."

* * *

If it had been his students at home they would have realized by now exactly how much the flirting and obvious attempts were beginning to wear on him. But they weren't so it continued. He could see Draco, in the back of the room, still smirking happily over the latest incident, which had occurred moments earlier when a sixth year Slytherin had _accidentally _tripped in front of Tal giving him a full view of her breasts. 

He was glad Draco found it so amusing, because he definitely no longer did.

"Pay attention!" Tal wearily snapped out. "On your desks you will notice a new seating arrangement, from now on that is where you will be sitting. You will be arranged in groups by your abilities. Also some of you will be working solely with Kirish from now on."

"But professor!"

"Yes Ms. Jamis?"

"Everyone knows I like to sit at the front, why do I have to be in the corner?" She asked batting her eyes rapidly.

"I explained that already." Tal said ignoring the girls crushed expression. "Now everyone move!"

The hourly class seemed to lag on, trapping him with the hormone driven teenagers, Tal didn't think he had ever been as bad as they were. The class finally ended and the students reluctantly walked out, but not before most of them stopped to have conversation with Tal.

When he was finally left in peace he dropped his head to his desk and thought about knocking himself unconscious. Just as he lifted his head and prepared to bang it on the desk Draco's sarcastic drawl stopped him, "Don't tell me your tired of your little fan club already?"

Tal just glared to tired for anything else and Draco had another good laugh at his expense before walking out of the room to prepare for his own classes. 

It was unexpected he thought that Draco had become so much more relaxed around him just because he answered some bloody questions, not even clearly at that. He wondered if Draco had ever had any real friends, he and Hermione had seemed to get along well but obviously not well enough, they still weren't talking. Draco was flat out ignoring her presence.

Kirish seemed to think it was because they shared the link and Draco couldn't get away with acting anything besides himself. Tal wondered though if it just wasn't the chemistry they had always had. Even though they had consistently been at one another's throats during school they had actually been more alike than most people. From small things like Quidditch, to life changing things like the war. It was amazing that they had ended up so alike. Draco might not notice the fact of it but he must feel it subconsciously at least.

A small sandy haired head peeped inside the door and Tal was immensely relieved to see one of his first year students who, thank all that was good, didn't have a crush on him. "What can I do for you Ms. St Claire?"

"Hullo professor, the Headmistress wanted me to come tell you that she said that Mr. Weasley said that he needed to talk to you." She ended her rushed words with a shy smile.

"Thank you." Tal said with a smile of his own as he stood up.

"Welcome." He heard echoing back to his ears as she ran off in the corridor.

He made his way to Hermione's office, gave the password and interrupted an obviously private moment. Hermione and Ron quickly broke apart, a red flush marking Hermione's cheeks. 

"Tal how nice of you to come so quickly." Hermione said a bit shakily as she sat in her chair behind the desk. "Ron needs to ask you some question before he can finish his report or the Council."

Tal gave a small snort, bringing Ron's attention to him. Ron might have made up with Hermione but it was abundantly clear that he still detested Tal's very presence. It hurt that Ron, his once best friend, couldn't see through the person he was and realize who he had once been. Draco who had once been a hated rival had nearly found the truth yet it never even occurred to Ron. But then Ron had killed him hadn't he? 

"I have another class in an hour, so you'd better get on with it. Wouldn't want to keep the Council waiting."

"No we wouldn't." Ron agreed in a deceptively calm voice. "I need to know your personal opinion," Ron sneered at the word showing precisely what he thought of Tal opinion, "of what these students are capable of and to what a degree."

Tal looked to Hermione trying to see how much she wanted him to say but she only looked back at him pleasantly. "After testing all of them I found more than the estimated thirty that Ms. Granger thought she had, I believe in all there was forty-nine. So far only twelve of them exhibit enough potential to train at Talis, is they so wished." Ron's expression made it apparent that the children wouldn't have been allowed to go even if they wanted to. "As capabilities I've just now been able to sort them into groups, I'm seeing mostly telepathic ability, mixed with telekinetic there are a few minor empaths, and then some odds and ends."

The questions continued for another fifteen minutes before Ron realized there was no point in trying to bait Tal any further. 

Tal watched with interest as Ron went to stand by Hermione's desk and make plans for dinner. She'd seemed to have gotten over her problems with Ron fairly quickly which surprised Tal.

After Ron had left the room Tal stood up and attempted to leave the room but Hermione forestalled him. "I was wondering how Draco was doing?"

Tal wondered if he should be honest with her, as close as she seemed to be to Ron lately he wasn't sure he should, for all he knew it would go right to the Council. In the end he decided she deserved to know, even if Draco was no longer talking to her. "He's doing good, learning quickly. Kirish and I have decided to register him in the Empath Division. He easily one of the strongest I've ever seen."

"I'm glad he's learning to control it, he seems to look better lately." She paused for a moment, "What did you mean by register?"

"From the beginning Kirish and I kept records of people who had potential or who might pass it to their children." Tal shrugged lightly, "There's a whole team in Talis dedicated to it."

Hermione fiddled with a quill not meeting his eyes, "How many have you registered?"

"I'm going to tell you but let me make it explicitly clear if I ever hear that it got the Council's ears I will make your life difficult." She turned incredulous eyes to him, and he continued speaking, "When I left to come here we had over ten thousand registered but you have to understand not all of the exhibit the potential they merely carry it. We've gone back through generations and found that certain families have a higher likely hood. And the only way anybody will find out more is if they steal our records but I wouldn't recommend that."

Hermione hesitated slightly, "Thank you for telling me about it and about Draco."

"Your welcome. I've got to go now, those bloody girls all try to get to class half an hour early."

Surprisingly though when he reached the classroom it was empty, he breathed a sigh of relieve and started walking towards his desk. As he passed the student tables he noticed a book that had drop underneath a chair, stooping down he picked it up. Sitting down at his desk he glanced at the book and was taken aback by the title, _"The Fall Of Voldemort"_ by Percy Weasley. People apparently didn't care about uttering the dreaded V word any longer and it sounded just like Percy to have written a history book. Forgetting that he had made a promise to himself to never read such things he started to flip through it.

Ten minutes later the book was thrown across the room with such rage that as it hit the wall the book split in half. Tal was sitting at his desk, jaw and fists clenched. He couldn't understand how everyone could believe such horrible things about him. A bitter laugh echoed around the room, mocking him.

As a child he had been in the history books as a hero, defeater of Voldemort, now as a man he was in the history books as someone nearly more evil than Voldemort himself.

_"Kirish!"_

"Tal?" A startled Kirish responded.

_"I need you to take over classes for the day, and tell Draco I'm not coming tonight."_

_"What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing, nothing at all."_ Tal responded bitterly. 

And walked away knowing Kirish would take care of it.

* * *

Just as he had been for most of his early life, so he was again, alone and hated. He stood in the middle of the room, faces looked down at him from raised balconies. Friends, teachers, enemies all brought together to witness his trial. Believing that he was a Death-Eater, that he had murdered his own friends! He desperately tried to hold the tears back, not wanting to show any weakness in front of these people.

The mark upon his arm burned like fire, why would he willingly have the mark of Voldemort branded onto his skin, polluting his soul? Did they know nothing? 

No, he couldn't explain how it had gotten there, it had just appeared. No, he couldn't explain where the plans had come from. He had kept denying the same things over and over until it had come down to these final tense moments.

Silence ruled as Minister Cornelius Fudge stood, "We find Harry Potter guilty of crimes as a Death-Eater. Including the murders of Susan Bones, Neville Longbottom, and others yet to be discovered, also treason in the highest degree." Glaring spitefully down at Harry, Fudge called out to the Aurors who carelessly hauled Harry to the chamber entrance.

"Please HELP!" He screamed in aguish. Albus Dumbledore turned his back to his most promising pupil, as did so many others.

* * *

The room around Tal was in shambles, broken shards of glass, papers, clothes all in disarray, reflecting his mood as he started blankly through the window in the clear blue sky.

* * *

Later that night a marked change occurred in Draco, one that wouldn't make itself known for days but still wrapped itself around his subconscious.

That night unknowingly he had his first true insight into Tal's past. Nightmares plagued his sleep, faces floated before his closed eyes, guilt riddled him, fear held him in place, blood stained his thoughts. And they continued into the early morning, not unlocking him until the sun burned the darkness away.

He awoke not realizing the hellish nightmares belong not to him but to Tal. His body and mind shook from fatigue as he dressed and prepared to face the school as he did every day.

Breakfast was uneventful, except that Tal was missing presumably not feeling well.

Morning classes were boring and irritating as always, except that he felt so depressed when he should have been gleeful as he took twenty points from Gryffindor.

Lunch was once again uneventful, except when Hermione tried to sit by him and a glass a wine accidentally fell into her lap.

Afternoon classes were again boring and irritating as always, except that he felt so depressed when he should have laughed as two seventh year Gryffindors screwed a potion up and their skin turned a bright Slytherin green.

Dinner was once again uneventful, except that by now Draco couldn't help but wondering where Tal was.

And for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he would actually care but all the same he still went to Tal's private rooms as soon as dinner ended. A brief bubble of emotion rose to the surface and burst when Kirish opened the door, he didn't know what he felt and he figured he really didn't want to know.

"What do you want Draco?" Kirish asked from the doorway in a tired voice. 

"Where's Tal?" Draco questioned impatiently, wanting to shove her out of the way.

"Tal? When did you start referring to him as Tal?

"Just answer the bloody question you damned Yankee!" But he couldn't help but wonder the same thing too.

"Look blondy he isn't feeling well." Kirish spat back at him. 

"Well that's perfectly clear, considering I've felt like shit all day. Tell him to at least have the courtesy to close his bloody side of the link!" Kirish gave him an outraged look but he pushed her out of the way saying, "Never mind I'll tell myself. As dense as you are you'll forget before you close the door."

"Get your fucking inconsiderate ass back here!" She yelled from behind him but he ignored her again and started looking through the rooms, astounded at the wreckage. He finally found Tal in the bedroom, sitting on the floor systematically tearing a stack of books into sheds and then tossing them into a fire.

If Tal was aware of Draco he ignored him, or at least tried. Whether Tal realized it not he'd had the link open ever since the night before and Draco was completely aware of how he felt. It was in that moment he realized who the nightmares belonged to, it was in that moment he realized how alike they were, it was in that moment he admitted to himself that he actually liked the man. It was in that moment that their link took a life of it's own.

In reality it only lasted a few seconds, but to them it felt like hours. A wide eyed Kirish rushed into the room, looked at the two men, and breathed out sharply, "What the fuck was that?"

An overwhelmed Draco sat down next to Tal who looked at Draco, "That's what I want to know."

"Well don't look at me, I didn't do anything and bloody hell I really don't want to know what just happened."

* * *

It was much later on in the night, after Draco had left, that Tal and Kirish sat on the bed trying to figure out how to deal with the new aspect of Tal and Draco's link.

"He has uncommon control, he worked my memories over fairly well with no training, I already told him you were going to work with him on it."

"Well we just won't. He doesn't seem aware of the memories and we just have to hope it stays that way."

"Ha not with the luck I seem to be having."

"Well what did you expect? You should have never open the damned book."

"That's just it," Tal said with tightly closed eyes, "I wasn't thinking, I just did it. I never thought they would write such tripe about me or believe it for that matter."

"Yea well from what I can see they're all idiots so it's understandable."

"Thanks Kirish," Tal said softly.

"What are you going to do about this by the way?" Kirish asked while he seemed to be in a better mood.

"Damn, I don't know, right now my head feels like it's about to explode. You and I swap memories all the time but I've never had a lifetime of them crammed into my head at once. At this moment I can't even sort through any of them, and besides how the hell do I know this hasn't ever happened before."

* * *

It was a groggy Tal that made his way to breakfast for the first time in two days, when he entered a large number of students stood up and clapped. All he wanted to do was yell at them to shut up, the noise wasn't helping his headache at all. 

He made his way to the end of the main table and sat between Kirish and Draco, the latter had taken to sitting as far from Hermione as possible even if it meant enduring Tal and Kirish.

Tal looked at the other man closely for any sign of change, but unlike Tal he seemed well rested and entirely too cheerful, or at least for Draco. 

"I see you kept to yourself last time." Draco said patronizing Tal. 

"I might not tonight, might not be able to control myself, so have the bed ready," Tal shot right back. And hit his mark, Draco's hand paused in mid-air and his eyes widened before he managed to get himself under control. Setting his cup back down gently he turned to Tal and actually growled. Just growled. Tal didn't believe it and just sat there blinking. 

Kirish ignored it, "Draco pass the sugar." 

A moment later Draco's arm reached around Tal and slammed the sugar bowl into Kirish hand. 

"Well I see your not as cheerful as you looked." She said with a raised eyebrow. "It's amazing how much you two act alike."

"I do not!" Two voices responded in unison. Kirish laughed aloud, drawing attention to the trio.

After that Tal and Draco didn't look at each other once, they completely ignored one another. Which Tal was fine with, his head still hurt and he was in a terrible mood. 

It got worse when Hermione came up and asked him to be an escort for the student trip to Hogsmeade. Hermione wouldn't stop talking, which made his head throb even more and he agreed just to shut her up.

* * *

As Draco left breakfast and stalked back to his room he cursed Tal with any and every word that popped into mind. He couldn't believe that he had thought he might actually like the man or that they were alike.

Tal was an arrogant bastard who thought he knew everything, he always tried to tell people what to do. No he defiantly did not like the man and he kept repeating that to himself over and over.

Unfortunately for him as he rambled he also turned at the wrong corridor and knocked right into Hermione. 

"Draco." 

He ignored her and turned to walk away but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face her.

"No more of this! We have to talk about this."

"About what Headmistress?" 

"Hermione! My name is Hermione!" She cried out in frustration, something she rarely did.

Draco looked at her, "I know what your name is and I don't want to talk to you, ever." He ignored her agonized expression. "I have to go pick up some research materiel in Hogsmeade, so if you will excuse me Headmistress?"

She turned her head and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself, "Fine Draco."

* * *

Bookstores had fascinated him ever since he was a child, following his father around in their personal library. Books held such power and knowledge, you could learn anything if need be.

When he had been a student people had never realized just how intelligent he was except of course for Snape and Dumbledore. Studying had been easy for him, he loved to read, he just didn't like all the incredibly boring homework that went with it. And besides there had always been Potter to irritate, Draco had to admit that had been the highlight of his school years, finding ways to irritate Potter to higher levels each time. But then Potter had turned into one of them, Draco still didn't know if he believed that or not.

He'd been present at the trial, Potter had denied everything but then Dumbledore had spoken against him and who was going to contradict Albus Dumbledore?

Draco was still mulling over his thoughts as he exited the bookstore, as he walked by an alley he saw something he hadn't expected.

Tal Wittman kissing a Hogwarts student. They were locked in a passionate kiss, the girl's arms clutched around Tal's neck and his arms pulling at her shirt. Draco felt an indescribable emotion and was about to turn away when suddenly Tal pushed the girl away, anger apparent on his face.

"What the hell was that?"

"Why professor Wittman, I'm sure you know exactly what that was." The girl said, lust ringing clear in her voice.

"Let me make this very clear to you," Tal said with more anger than Draco had ever heard and he could see the girl shrinking back, "I don't need students throwing themselves at me. I'm here to do a job, an important job, I don't need this shit"

The girl was brave though Draco had to give her that because she kept at it, "But I wouldn't be in the way professor, I'm seventeen not some little virgin." Then she looked up at him in with calculating look, "Or has someone already made the offer and you took it?"

From where Draco stood Tal look very affronted that the girl hadn't already backed off already.

"Your right actually there's already a special female in my life, her name is Lillis and she's waiting for me at home. And believe me you don't compare."

Draco felt something again and apparently so did the girl because she ran past him in tears. Tal followed a moment later and stood in front of Draco. "What no cracks Draco?"

He didn't answer he just stood in shock as he realized that he had been jealous. Jealous that the girl had been kissing Tal, jealous that Tal had someone. 

He Draco Malfoy had been jealous of someone for the first time since Harry Potter died.

  
Chapter 6 - Truth Marred By Deception 


End file.
